An Alternate Start and A Darker Hero
by You are right . . . NOT
Summary: What if Jaune was orphaned at birth and his village was lost at 9? What if Ozpin was requested to take Jaune in? What if he accepted? Read as a darker and stronger Jaune Arc forges his path in Beacon, led by the book of his heritage and taught by Ozpin. Drop a review, hope you enjoy it. Dark (not evil) Jaune x Weiss [it'll be fun to write].
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone here is another fic, I hope I can get some review on whether or not to continue it.**

**Love it? Hate it? Leave a review!**

**Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Rain.

The endless pounding of the rain against his back.

It burned. The very cold and harsh fall of it burned him. It burned like the fires of the building of his old village. Grimm and humans all lay around, making the ground lumpy. He got up and began to numbly walk, ignoring the claw marks on his face and gash across his chest and up his neck, ignoring he was still gripping a sword and shield. He tripped over something and saw it was a leg. A severed leg. He whimpered quietly and walked towards his old home.

He hadn't noticed his body glowing with a soft white light, and feeling himself heal.

Fire.

He ignored that his orphanage on fire and pushed the creaky door open.

They were all dead.

Everyone.

Except him.

The old nanny…

Dead.

His playmates…

Dead.

The enemy…

Dead.

His villagers…

Dead.

Himself…

Alive?

Why?

WHY?!

Blood soaked hands trembled as he began to realize he was alone. He began to shake, unable to hold his weapons as they shook. The sword and shield clattered to the soaked earth. His hands shakily lifted in front of his eyes. A disgusting red stained them. HE began to gasp and hyperventilate. Oh Lord in heaven, he was still alive…

He didn't want to be the one to be saved. He was too young, HE WAS BARELY 9. Others had lives, wives, kids, families. He didn't have that, he was an orphan. Picked up to fight because he was a child with a good arm. He didn't have anyone to survive for, so why? WHY HIM?  
Then he began to scream.

And scream.

And scream.

They were all dead.

Except him.

That's how the army found him. On his knees in the burning building, bleeding, staring at the sky. Gasping out small screams, inaudible to the world. They tried to rouse him, but he wouldn't respond other than a single sentence.

"Let me sleep too, I don't want to be alone…"

* * *

Jaune woke up gasping. A sweaty hand pressed against his forehead. He let out a choked whimper and buried his head in his arms. He was okay. It was the past he was older now. He was 14, he didn't need to think about that. He buried his head in his arms and pushed back the burning in his eyes. He wouldn't remember. Despite his chant he was able to think about what happened right after.

* * *

The silver-haired man with the cane pulled a blanket around his shoulders and simply placed a hand on his shoulder. Jaune didn't move, at least he didn't think he did, but somehow he toppled into the man's side like someone shoved him. The man looked at him and rubbed his back.

Something in the gesture…the warmth of the hand, the gentle calming it pushed on him, made him start to sob.

"Shhhh…Shh…cry, it's okay to cry. Let it go…" the man said.

Jaune didn't know how long it had taken for his sobs to become soft quiet gasps. He was tired. He wanted some milk and his bed. He wanted the nanny to come in and whisper good night and give all the kids a special good knight kiss on the cheek, all their own. The man rubbing his back ran a gentle hand through his hair. He sighed at the sensation and fell asleep.

When he woke up the sun was streaming in through the windows. Jaune sighed and rolled over. The nanny could wake him up a bit later, besides he had a terrible nightmare. He wanted a little more time. The he realized something was beeping, a slow rhythmic beep. He squished his eyes shut a bit more, did they get an alarm clock?

Jaune sighed and rubbed his cheek, why did he have a bandage on? Had he fallen?

He got up and saw himself in a mirror.

He was dressed in shorts and a hospital dress. He had an angry red scar on his neck and face, not to mention he had an IV in his arm. Wire were attached to his chest and he was a lot skinnier. His hair was wild and had grown out to be shoulder length. He had grown a lot taller. What the heck happened? Where was he?

Right then the door slid open and he saw the man from his nightmare, looking at him with wide eyes.

His nightmare. That means…

That wasn't a nightmare. That was real. THIS IS REAL.

The floor rushed up to meet him very suddenly.

* * *

Jaune got up and slapped himself, really hard. The loud sound echoed around like he was in a cave. He began to shuffle out of his bed.

Enough nightmares. He was about to rub the blurriness of sleep from his eyes when a sound caught his attention.

Just then his door creaked open and Ozpin walked in. He took one glance and Jaune and knelt down.

"You had a nightmare." Ozpin said, wrapping his arms around Jaune in a hug.

"I did?" Jaune said.

He looked in the mirror and saw tears trickling down his expressionless face.

That explained the blurriness.

"Oh sorry, Dad." He murmured.

Ozpin had decided to adopt him, 9 or 10. One year wouldn't make too much of a difference to Ozpin. The nightmares had been happening a lot, much more than what would be healthy for Jaune. But no matter what happened, even on sleep medication - which one doctor had tried - nightmares would creep into Jaune's mindscape and tear him inside a little more.

"You don't need to apologize." Ozpin said softly.

"Why can't it stop? I want it to stop, I try not to think about it, but it keeps coming back to me." He murmured miserably.

"Something like that Jaune… it might never go away. You have to make yourself strong so the pain becomes bearable."

"Oh…"

Ozpin sighed as he got up, "Come on, it's your first day of school. You need to get dressed."

"Yes, Dad."

* * *

Ozpin walked down the hall of the small house he had bought for Jaune. It was a bit difficult working away from beacon but somehow adopting Jaune had made it worth it. For all the brave fronts and attempts to smile though, Jaune was not okay. Four years since a relative of his old teammate had called the police from his village to help. Ozpin was called to help lead, since he had been there a few times. He never expected a quiet town like that to suddenly be attacked by Grimm. That was the reason John had settled there with his wife.

* * *

They had a son, but the wife died of child birth. Ozpin rushed over and saw the blonde boy laying in his crib, staring at everything with eyes a hue of blue that made the sky and ocean jealous of their purity. John was dying, no one had any physical reason, but they all knew it was a broken heart killing him.

"My son's name is Jaune…" the blond man had said.

"Really, a little narcissistic, don't you think?" Ozpin said, vainly trying to thin the tension.

"I wanted to ask you to be his godfather." John said, his grey eyes gleaming with determination.

"I have a school to lead, John, besides, you'll be fine! This boy needs his father and I can-"

"Please."

Ozpin's throat closed up.

"Please. I can't live without her, the only reason I am hanging on is him. He is all I have left of her." He pleaded, "I won't be long before I go too. I need you to watch him. Take him in, teach him. I know I have no right, but you are my best friend Ozpin… my own family doesn't want him." He spat.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed at this, their own flesh and blood would be alone, and they wouldn't help him? Disgusting.

"You don't need to take him in right now, when he is 10…then do it. Give him this." John gestured to a large bag in the corner of the room, "It has everything he will need. I want you to tell him I am sorry…"

John's breath hitched and he fought back tears as he looked at his innocent and young son, "Oh Lord, Ozpin, why can't I live for him? He needs me, I can't do this to him!"

Ozpin watched as one of his oldest and toughest friends broke down and wept. Ozpin had his friend transferred to a hospital, but nothing could be done.

He died a week later.

Ozpin had attended his funeral alone except for a single baby boy, who seemed to stare at him with those solemn blue eyes.

"Ohgahbababa." Jaune mumbled in baby talk.

Ozpin didn't have it in him to respond.

* * *

Ozpin sighed, Jaune had fully grasped what the situation had meant and at all times had a locket of his parents hung around his neck. He never talked about it, and most of the time he didn't speak at all. He had such a dead look in his eyes that at times Ozpin wanted to scream. He was failing Jaune and John. Jaune had seen child specialists, and they had all said the same thing. The boy was beyond help, he had shut off his emotions. Only something big could help him.

Social Interaction it was.

Jaune came down the stairs in jeans and a t-shirt, and Ozpin saw so much of john in him that he would wonder whether someone was trying to make him feel like a terrible person. Those ocean blue eyes seemed to be the only thing keeping him from looking just like John. Jaune had a special interest in weapons and vowed he would kill all the Grimm he came across. It wasn't long after he got his father's bag that Ozpin saw him practice with the sword and shield that John had left him. Ozpin helped him and was fairly certain he was already a top swordsman, but that paled in comparison to his natural affinity to his family's shield.

He had fought Ozpin when he decided to fight with the shield. He rolled and danced, moving around with an inhuman grace. He blocked and when Ozpin had finally tired him out, he would sit quietly down for a minute and get up again. His shield would definitely be his greatest asset. His father had left him a book on how to use it and his sword, as well as the qualities his shield had possessed.

Jaune had a pure white aura, tinged with the barest hit of dark blue. His soul was good, almost all good. He would never be able to have tapped into it unless he hadn't tapped into his aura unconsciously as a child due to the trauma of his past. He used it in his shield, and his shield would grow into a massive gauntlet and other weapons, halberds, swords, spears, practically anything. Ozpin knew that he would

become a great hunter, no matter what.

"It's time to go, dad."

* * *

Jaune stared at the school for a moment. Ozpin nodded at him and Jaune walked inside, sword and shield strapped to his back and an over-the-shoulder bag already on. He saw several people look at him as he approached the office.

"Is that the kid Ozpin took in?"

"Yeah, I think so. They say something happened to him and now he doesn't like to talk to other people."

"Do you see those scars on his face and neck? What did that to him?"

"Why the heck is he carrying a sword and shield?"

"Lucky guy, Ozpin must be pampering him…"

Jaune almost chuckled at that but kept walking.

* * *

The teachers were sizing up the students and trying to gauge where they would be.

"Okay kids who here uses a sword?"

Jaune raised his hand, much to everyone's amusement, they were also considered an older type of weapon.

"Okay and how about spears?"

Jaune kept his hand raised and several people also raised their hands too.

"Um Jaune?"

"Yes?" he said, everybody looked at him.

"Don't you use a sword?"

"Yeah…what's your point?"

"Well most people only specialize in one type of weapon." The teacher said.

"I am not stupid enough to think that's what's most convenient will be on hand, besides, some weapons will be better suited for fighting a certain type of enemies than others." Jaune responded calmly, "I admit I am most comfortable with a sword, but I am able to use several other weapons with plenty of versatility."

The teacher blinked before shrugging, "Don't let it go to your head Jaune."

He frowned, "I wish I had that luxury…"

* * *

Jaune held a wooden sword and took his stance across from a boy wielding a wooden halberd. Jaune calmly waited for the other boy to make the first move. He sidled and began to maneuver around Jaune. Jaune turned slowly, and without warning the boy charged. Jaune blocked the sloppy overhead swing with a lough 'CLACK'. The boy saw Jaune was only using one hand to block the attack.

"I suppose training with dad all those times really paid off." Jaune said absentmindedly.

The boy twisted and swung another time, Jaune ducked under the wide swing and stepped in before the boy had a chance to recover. He calmly grabbed the boy's wrist and yanked him out of his stance, making him stumble forward. He hit his sword over the boy's arm, making his arm go numb. He dropped his weapon and fell grasping his now numb arm.

"Hey! My arm fell asleep!" he grumbled.

"So I win." Jaune said, pressing his wooden sword against his opponent's forehead with a teasing smirk.

* * *

It had been a week since his first day.

Jaune was leaning against the fence during lunch break when a ball rolled over to him. He saw a Faunus kid run over to get it, and stop when he saw Jaune pick it up. He looked down. Jaune walked over and tapped his shoulder. The kid looked up and saw Jaune holding out the ball.

"You dropped this." Jaune said.

"Oh…Thank you! I didn't think you would give it back…" the boy said, Jaune noticed he had cat ears that flattened against his skull in embarrassment.

"Why not?"

"People don't really like faunus."

"Then they are idiots." Jaune responded shrugging.

"W-wha..?" The boy replied flabbergasted.

Jaune smiled, it felt…nice, "I think faunus are pretty cool. You have night-vision and a whole bunch of other stuff, if anything people should be jealous."

The boy blinked and grinned, "You want to participate in some sports with me and my friends? We need another player. My name's Tucker!"

Jaune blinked, he was feeling…happy. He nodded and the boy dragged him over to the field, "By the way my name is Jaune."

* * *

Ozpin smiled when he saw, for the first time in four years, Jaune was smiling. Ozpin had planned to check on Jaune to see if social interaction would help him. Ozpin was beyond pleased to see how much. Jaune kicked the ball and the other teens scrambled after it. Ozpin took a sip of the coffee he just bought.

"He finally started healing."

* * *

[Three Years Later]

He finished his application to Beacon and slid it in the application box, the teacher had signed it and Ozpin himself had given the stamp of acceptance. Jaune head rested on his forearms as he stared out the window, completely bored. He absent mindedly twirled a pencil in his hand and gently sang under his breath.

"Okay this is your final class with me…I wanted to say that it was a pleasure teaching all of you, and I wish you good luck in whatever goal you wish to pursue from here on in." The teacher said.

A bird landed on the window and cocked its head at Jaune's bored expression. The kids started to pack up and say their goodbyes. Jaune got up and rolled his shoulders and he threw some books in his bag. He was about to go when Velvet and Tucker walked up.

"So you both also applied to Beacon right?" Jaune asked as he slung his bag on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll definitely get in!" Tucker cheered as they made their way to the stairs.

Jaune began to walk down when he saw Ozpin waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Jaune sighed and slid down the railing.

"You shouldn't do that." Ozpin reprimanded gently, though Jaune knew he was quietly amused.

"I know but you always complain that I don't walk down fast enough, so I chose a quicker and easier option." He said resting his hands behind his head.

Ozpin chuckled as he ruffled Jaune's hair, "This is exactly why you fail the physical course. You never listen to what they say and do whatever's quickest."

"Heh," Jaune grinned, "It's not my fault they aren't open to alternatives."

* * *

Jaune groaned in misery.

Stupid motion sickness.

Stupid dustplane.

Stupid school being so far away.

Jaune closed his eyes and leaned against the seat he was sitting on and gripped the cold metal tightly. The chills seemed to help him steady his heaving stomach. He pulled back his hood slightly, pressed his forehead against the cold metal, and breathed in deep even breaths, just like dad had taught him. When he felt like he wasn't going to hurl up his insides he opened his eyes and stared at the school his dad ran.

Jaune was leaning against the glass and stared at the massive academy. They really didn't do it justice with the photo on the brochure. Jaune slung his pack over his shoulder and made his way to the doors and he passed by two girls; one had black hair with red ends and a red cloak with a long haired…well-endowed blond. He walked past them while the girls talked about bee's knees, which in his opinion wasn't really a normal conversational topic. Just then Glynda Goodwitch appeared on the screens and began to tell the students about Beacon.

Jaune smiled, he had met with Glynda on a few occasions, she was a bit uptight but overall a good person, and not to mention she taught him a lot about dust and its applications when he was younger. He grinned just before he felt his stomach heave, and he fell to his knees retching. His hood slid of his head but he was in too much pain to notice. He used his hood to keep people from seeing his face, he didn't want to show his scars.

"Gack! Dammit! Ugh… Stupid motion sickness…" he choked out, cringing.

"You okay?" said a small voice.

He turned his head and saw the red and black haired girl leaning over him with worry on her face. The expression changed to shock when she saw his scars, he looked away and pulled his hood down.

"Sorry." He murmured and quickly went towards the back of the dustplane.

"Wait!" she called.

He didn't stop and pushed into the throng of people gathering in the exits. He pulled his hood a bit lower and waited. His stomach was in knots for a completely different reason now. He knew people would react like that, then they would either try not to stare or just stare. He hated it. He hated it a lot. He hated his scars.

He brushed past a boy with dark hair and fuchsia eyes, a black haired girl with a bow, a orange-haired hulking guy with a mace. He quickly made his way to the back of the crowd and leaned against the wall. The ship had stopped and docked, but Jaune was still feeling queasy and weak. He slid down against the wall breathing like he had run for miles without using his aura.

A hand patted his shoulder. He looked up and saw a Velvet lightly tapping his shoulder, Tucker leaned over him, concerned.

"Your scars?"

Jaune nodded mutely.

"Come on, Jaune, everyone will look at first, it's only natural. Don't worry, I am sure you don't want ot be late." He said lifting Jaune to his feet.

"Yeah… Lets go." Jaune said.

With that the trio walked off the ship towards the academy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Second Chapter is finally up people.**

**Here ya go!**

* * *

Jaune felt that stepping out into the sunlight felt really nice as well as breathing the fresh air for the first time in what seemed like hours. He checked to make sure he had his automatic pistols tucked into his holsters and shield and sword. Okay all his weapons were there, and nothing was amiss, he even had his black oversword sheathe (his own design) and dust capsules. Jaune cracked his neck from side to side, trying to get rid of the various kinks that had begun to plague him halfway through the ride.

Curled up in a fetal position from motion sickness takes its toll on any sane and normal person's neck.

Tucker chattered about how cool it would be to be a fully licensed hunter and go around killing monsters. Velvet nodded, she was painfully aware of the danger, but even she could appreciate the excitement of being a hunter. Jaune didn't voice his opinion that he didn't want to fight, he would have wanted something peaceful, but he had vowed to kill all the Grimm he could. Besides, Tucker happiness was more important that facing reality at the moment, and Jaune knew it wouldn't last, usually good things never do.

That, and Ms. Goodwitch would definitely kill that attitude within three seconds of her meeting him.

Jaune noticed the red haired girl being abandoned by her well-endowed blond friend, who dashed off with her friends. Red (as Jaune deemed her until her name was known) was staggering back and crashed into some luggage in her daze. Jaune sighed and began walking towards her, he might as well do his good act for the day. Then he heard the shouting and looked again. Red happened to be apologizing to a white-haired girl in a dress. She had apparently collapsed into the white-haired girl's luggage, which had opened up a case of dust with vials.

Which the white haired girl was brandishing a vial of angrily.

Which was spreading red dust into the air.

And Red looked like she was about to sneeze.

Jaune knew this wasn't going to end well.

Lo and behold, he was right. To his amazement the dust filled air exploded with sparks of lightning and even slight flashes of ice when Red sneezed (sneezes that ignite dust, that's... different). The girl tried to apologize but the white haired girl -now covered in soot and dirt- was screaming over her in frustration. Jaune began to walk forward again (after waving his friends on), only to be beaten to the punch by a black haired girl with a bow. She said something to the white haired girl -now identified as Weiss Schnee- about the Schnee Company, which made her storm off angrily. The black haired girl left just as quickly and the red caped girl sat in the crater of the explosion, looking miserable.

Jaune sighed before smiling slightly and extending his hand. The girl looked up and Jaune got ready for the look of shock but instead she simply grabbed his hand and let herself get hauled to her feet.

"Hey." He said.

"Thanks." She said brightly.

"It's nothing, just saw that you needed help." Jaune replied.

"I'm sorry about the dustplane." She said quickly, eyes squeezed shut as if I would snap at her.

"It's not your fault...um..." Jaune sighed.

Way to sound awkward, Author: Jaune Arc.

"Ruby. My names Ruby Rose." She said.

"Oh, well I am Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you Ruby." He finished somewhat lamely.

"Likewise." She replied grinning.

* * *

Ozpin had told him about Ruby in passing mentioning that she was definitely someone interesting. Jaune had chalked it up to his dad's strange tastes, but he could see Ruby was interesting though for perhaps slightly different reasons.

Ruby was surprisingly chatty, and had a pretty badass weapon to boot. Customizable sniper rifle and big scythe? Badass. When Jaune flipped his hood back and showed his face she did the merest of double takes before commenting that, "Your eyes are like the color of the ocean!"

That's a first for Jaune, no one ever really complimented him, though that may have been because he always tried to keep his hood up. He shook his hair out to shade his eyes and mumbled a small thanks. Eventually after Ruby introduced him to Crescent Rose the talk went to weapons. Ruby wanted to know what Jaune wielded, so he brought out his sword and shield, pistols, and dust capsules.

"Bit basic, but they have loads of special features." Jaune said waving his sword in a few complex flourishes and finishing with a bow, "Specially my shield."

"Cool, classics are pretty nice, not many people appreciate them anymore. What about that black sword on your back?" She inquired.

"Oh that? Well it carries dust from the capsules which I can use entirely on its own or to add extra 'oomph' to my normal sword. You know, a bit of elemental butt kick. It attaches to my sword as an attachment or I can sheathe my sword in that if I want to free my hand for my gun a bit faster. It's not too complicated or really different but it fits me." Jaune said firmly.

"I think that's the most important part!" Ruby said, then she looked around at the deserted surroundings, "Anyway, shouldn't we be headed to the hall? I think we aren't even on the right path…"

"Ah dammit! You're right, I am so gonna be late! Dad's gonna kill me!" Jaune panicked and began to sprint down the path. Thank dust he memorized the map.

"Ah wait for me!" Ruby yelled, sprinting after him.

* * *

Jaune skidded into the hall -out of breath- with Ruby panting behind him. He flipped up his hood before anyone could see him without it.

Turning to Ruby he held out a fist and smirked, "I see my friends over there, see you around, alright?"

She nodded and fist bumped him, "See you later, Jaune!"

Right then the well-endowed blonde waved excitedly, "Hey Ruby! I saved you a seat!"

Jaune smiled, "You'd better not keep your friend waiting."

Ruby grinned and jogged towards her, "She is actually my sister! Her name is Yang!"

Jaune blinked, they didn't even look all that alike, probably half-sisters. He spotted Tucker and Velvet waiting for him, he jogged over.

"Sorry guys, got caught up with a new friend. Hope you don't mind."

Tucker grabbed him in a headlock, "Naw man, don't sweat it- agh!"

That last bit was because Jaune extracted himself and proceeded to flip Tucker instinctively onto the ground, which was hard marble.

"Oh, sorry man, you know it's a reflex at this point. But in all honesty, you had that coming." Jaune said restraining his laughter.

"I know..." He groaned, "You never take it easy, do you?"

"Can you fault me?" Jaune asked as he held out his hand.

Tucker shook his head and got up with a bit of help. Velvet slapped them both lightly on the shoulder as Ozpin walked on the platform. He scanned the crowd and blinked once at meeting Jaune's eyes, and continued to let his eyes drift over the crowd.

"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin said into a microphone, adjusting his glasses quietly, he continued, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills-and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose-direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, for Ozpin that was pretty eloquent and deep.

* * *

Oh fantastic, they were all sleeping in the hall. Jaune drew a line, and if it meant staying up fine!

He really didn't want to take off his hood. He had already changed into some loose drawstring pants and quickly ducked behind a pillar to take off his armor and stuff them in his locker earlier, so that was good. Weapons stored. Also good.

Now the bad.

Jaune cannot sleep unless he is shirtless which entails showing his scars, or he feels like the old cuts and wounds are itching and burning against whatever fabric he may be wearing (covers or blankets do not count). Everyone was together, so he would have waited until everyone had fallen asleep, then slip into his sleeping bag. He had talked to Ozpin about it, but Ozpin said he had to give everyone equal lodgings and opportunity. Jaune was in a checkmate, he didn't know what to do. He leaned against the wall and slumped tiredly. He wanted to sleep so much too…

His eyelids were fighting to stay open as he leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes with a low groan and tried to be comfortable. Right then a force knocked into his side and sent him sprawling. He looked to see Ruby backing away from a fighting and arguing Weiss and Yang while Blake was closing her book.

"Great…" he mumbled and got up, dammit, screw the rules.

Ruby turned and tried to say sorry, but Jaune tiredly waved her off with a quiet, "Its fine." He took his sleeping bag/mat and walked out of the hall. He climbed the stairs until he was just next to the door that led to the roof and threw his mat on the floor. He pulled off his jacket and shirt and flopped down on the mat. Consequences for being caught away from the group be damned, he didn't care to be around anyone else, besides Ozpin knew he would be here if he looked.

"That's better…" He sighed as sleep finally overcame him.

* * *

Jaune stumbled down the steps after packing and hastily throwing on his jacket and folding up his mat. He went to the bathrooms and washed up, brushed his teeth, and dressing in his signature black hoodie with gold and orange trimming and slightly scratchy jeans. He flipped the hood up right and readjusted his belt and pistols (he kept those on his person at all times).

"Okay Jaune...Day one, initiation." He murmured in an undertone.

As he made his way to the cafeteria, he heard the cafeteria before he could even smell the food, all the first years were talking about the initiation and making teams, while all the other upperclassmen were placing bets on who would win. He walked in and several people looked at him before chatting about his abilities and wondering whether or not he would get in.

Jaune took some pancakes and syrup and took a seat. He wasn't nervous about the fighting, but he was thinking about the partners, which Ozpin had told him about. He didn't say how, but said that Jaune would have to get used to having friends. Jaune wasn't opposed to the idea but he wasn't sure how he would explain all his strange habits. He just hoped that they were understanding.

Jaune mused over who his partner would be as he took a bite of pancake doused in a very liberal amount of syrup and sugar.

'Damn, these are some great pancakes' Jaune thought as he took another bite.

* * *

Jaune silently slid into the locker room and walked over to locker 636 and began strapping on his swords and shielth. He put on his greaves and arm-guards after slipping his metal chest-plate on. He noticed Ruby talking to her sister Yang and smiled as he heard Ruby excitedly describe her darling doing the talking for her. He turned to leave but his shoulder accidentally bumped into Weiss, who had been walking towards an amazon-like warrior with long red hair.

"Agh!" She cried as Jaune almost knocked her down.

Jaune caught her shoulder before she could hit the floor, "Ah, whoops. Sorry 'bout that, didn't see you there."

"You could at least watch where you are going!" She hissed.

He raised an eyebrow, it was too early in the day for this kind of attitude, "Okay... and yeah, you're welcome."

"What are you talking about?" She snapped

Jaune snickered as he responded with a jibe, "Nothing princess, just responding in kind to your attitude, which in my opinion could use a definite dose of nice. Oh, and if you mean for the welcome, it was for keeping you for landing on you back."

"Ugh, just get out of my way." Weiss growled as she tried to move around Jaune.

"Say please, princess." Jaune said grinning.

The amazon-like warrior giggled after listening to our exchange, a hand pressed against her mouth.

Weiss grumbled angrily but choked out, "Would you ... PLEASE move?"

"No need to say it like it's giving you heartburn, princess." Jaune replied snarkily as he stepped aside, "Well either that or drinking poison."

"Hmph!" she scoffed as she moved past Jaune toward the amazon.

Jaune walked away to see Ruby trying to stifle her laughter and Yang grinning.

"Heyo, Ruby, Yang." Jaune said, nodding at them in greeting.

"Hey Jaune. You sleep okay? Sorry about-"Ruby began.

"Ruby, it's fine, but let's please not start a habit of you having to apologize to me in every other interaction we have, that'll be odd." Jaune said, patting her head.

She swiped at his hand with an irritated and embarrassed expression, "Shut up."

"See? Better already!" he joked.

"Hey there, Jaune. I am Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's awesome older sister." Yang said offering her hand.

He shook it and said, "A bit narcissistic don't you think?"

She shrugged before cheekily saying, "Eh, what can you do?"

"Not be narcissistic?" Jaune offered.

"Easier said than done for her…" Ruby muttered as she trailed off.

"What was that, little sis?" Yang asked a bit of yellow light beginning to outline her figure as she cracked her knuckles threateningly.

"N-nothing!" Ruby quickly said, waving her hands in a surrendering gesture.

Jaune pressed a hand to his mouth to keep himself from laughing, just then he turned away to see Weiss…posing?

Behind the amazon-like warrior with red hair while the amazon was looking in the other direction.

The faces Weiss was making weren't exactly…normal. Or sane.

Jaune could have sworn he saw ethereal fire expanding behind her with each pose.

Regardless, Jaune stepped away from Ruby –who was beginning to sweat- and Yang –who was glaring at her adoptive sister- towards the pair.

He may or may not have left his locker unlocked, and he wanted to make sure that it was locked. As he walked by Weiss glared and he stopped with a sigh. He decided why start out on the wrong foot? Might as well be cordial and polite with everyone.

"Look, Weiss. If you have a problem with me, I guess I can chalk it up to me kinda being an ass just now. But seriously, let's not try to drag this antagonism any longer than it must be so I'll be first to say I'm sorry." I held out my hand, "Hi, my name is Jaune Arc, and I am sorry for annoying you earlier."

Weiss blinked, the glare on her face softened slightly before disappearing completely, she sighed, "Fine I accept your apology…and I guess I am…sorry too…I have had a vaguely stressful morning."

She took his hand and shook it once.

"Why?" Jaune was honestly curious.

"I guess I am worried about partners…I really don't want that girl or her sister." Weiss muttered darkly in an undertone.

Jaune frowned as he checked his locker and saw it was indeed locked, "I know you two didn't meet under the best of circumstances, but Ruby is seriously skilled and pretty bright, a bit crazy but in a good way. Dad told me about her when I was packing for the ride to Beacon."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "How would your dad know about Ruby's skill level? Why would he tell you anyway?"

Jaune sweatdropped as he fumbled for a suitable response, "Oh well … um, look at the time! I have got to go!"

Jaune kept his head down, pulled his hood down, and practically ran out of the locker room.

* * *

Jaune was excited, he hadn't had any really good challenges in a while, and he knew he could take on any monster the emerald forest had to offer with his arsenal. His last fight had been against some of the instructors in his academy, and thanks to Ozpin whooping his can every time Jaune had asked for a spar, he felt like he was being attacked by glaciers. Slow, inching along until they (FINALLY) made contact with their target.

Jaune had a wide grin on his face, being a combat junkie had a few perks, adrenaline in battle never got old.

He ran up to the hill to see Ozpin standing and looking over the forest with a distant expression. Jaune noticed, with some amusement, that he had his coffee cup filled with the steaming liquid. Jaune didn't even try to stay silent, knowing his dad's reverie was way too deep to immediately be broken out of. It took a minute, but Ozpin blinked and brought his mug up to his mouth for a gulp of coffee.

"Well Jaune…here you are. You think you are ready to take the first step?"

"I think I am ready, I think I have been for quite some time dad. Do you think I am?"

"Would it change what you were about to do if I said no."

"Yes."

Ozpin turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, "It would?"

Jaune sighed, "I would be devastated but you are my dad, I know you want what's best for me, if you think I am not ready, I'll listen."

Ozpin looked towards the forest, a small smile on his lips, "I expect my son to get nothing less than perfect in every class you know."

Jaune grinned, and decided to mess around a bit, "You know I never make promises, and you might have to settle for a low 90% or high 80%...even a low 7-"

"Jaune, don't even dare finish that sentence." Ozpin voice was firm, yet amused.

"You take the fun out of everything." Jaune complained lightly.

They both shared a quiet laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys Chapter 3 is out, hope you like it.**

**Everything belongs to Monty, except the story idea.**

* * *

Jaune didn't have to wait long for the rest of the hopefuls to arrive, even so, waiting for them felt like a long, long time. He took the pad that was closest to Ozpin, who smiled lightly before composing himself into the usual stoic expression. Jaune hopped on the spot, getting rid of all the jitters and restlessness that had settled as he stood waiting with his dad. When Glynda approached and saw him, she smiled slightly and nodded in his direction. He almost forgot to pull his hood back over his face when nodded enthusiastically back.

"Hey Glynda." He said casually, grinning.

She smiled a bit more broadly before realizing she was supposed to be in 'teacher mode' (as Jaune had dubbed it), "Please refer to me as Ms. Goodwitch, Ja-erm Mr. Arc." She responded coolly as she coughed lightly into her hand, her face smoothing into an impassive look.

"Aw, you're even more uptight as a teacher." He mumbled, half-sullenly, half-amused; it was his standard response every time.

"Excuse me?" She asked, an eyebrow raised, Jaune had be around her long enough to know when he should back off.

"N-nothing ma'am!" He said raising his hands in front of him in surrender.

Last time he had angered her he had spent the rest of his day running from her dust spells, not an experience he wanted to grow through again.

The other students walked up and Jaune was sure he saw Weiss give him an 'I want answers and you WILL give them' look. Ruby walked up and he bumped fists with her and nodded at Yang. All the other students began to walk to each pad and ready themselves on their individual platforms when Ozpin spoke up.

Jaune head was too filled with a single thought that drowned out any other sensation.

'This is it.'

'I have been learning to get in here and become a hunter my entire life.'

'I will not fail.'

'I will make my mother, father, and dad proud.'

* * *

Jaune eyes blazed from under his hood, flickering between white and ocean blue like a flashlight struggling to turn on. Ozpin clearly remembered John's same look of anticipation. The slightest grin, that expression as if he was expecting a good memory. Ozpin shook his head ever so slightly, Jaune really was his father's son.

* * *

Jaune broke out of his slight reverie and noticed Ruby shaking like a leaf in the wind, "What?"

"Whoever we meet in the forest and make eye contact with will be our partner! For the next four years!" She wailed.

Jaune laughed, ruffling Ruby's hair, "Sounds interesting, don't worry Ruby, I know you'll find someone who will work well with you."

Ruby pouted and sighed dejectedly before turning on her launch pad to stare apprehensively at the forest. All the students took their stance and waited, just then the pad launched the first person and they went flying into the air. One by one, the pads launched all of them into the sky. Yang put on some shades and grinned at Ruby before being sent flying. Jaune gave ruby a grin and nodded as she went sailing into the sky. Right before Jaune's pad launched, he dipped his head down in a nod and was sent into the sky. Jaune laughed out loud and his hood slid off his face, he would have to fix that later. He saw the other students shooting through the forest with their own methods before focusing on the ground as he passed the very top of his ascent and began to fall lower down.

He flipped once, and drew his sword from it shielth at his hip in an icepick grip. Hurtling downwards at a slope, he stabbed his sword into a tree, using his momentum to swing around it once and jump off. He landed on a low branch that bent and shot him back up toward the sky. He flipped acrobatically in the air and rolled into his landing, cartwheeling a few times for effect. He flipped his hood up and smirked as he walked away. He sheathed his sword and lightly placed a hand on his gun holsters.

"The judges score a perfect ten for the fantastic performance of Jaune Arc…" he chuckled.

* * *

Ozpin stared at the tablet showing his son as Jaune walked across the forest floor. Relief flooded Ozpin, allowing him to breathe easier.

Glynda looked at him and shook her head, "He did fine Ozpin, I am sure you trained him on landing."

Ozpin sighed, "I did, but he is my son regardless, I worry about him."

Glynda conceded to that, "As any father should, but you can't show favoritism."

Ozpin smirked, "If anything, people will think I hate Jaune."

* * *

Jaune kept his ears open, knowing his eyes could be tricked, he pulled his hood slightly lower, and technically this way he would be able to pick his partner by pulling his hood back. He glanced across the woods, the birds chirped merrily in the trees and the squirrels chittered as they played in the trees. Light streamed through breaks in the tree foliage.

Jaune smiled and stretched, "It's calming here…I could totally take a nap…"

Right as Jaune said that, the noises stopped and the animals scurried away or hid. Jaune immediately tensed up and drew his guns. He scanned the area around him and the ground crackled to his right. He placed one gun to his right and kept the other still held high. He blinked and a beowolf pair stalked into the clearing only to immediately shot dead by multiple bullets.

"Well that was a waste of tension." Jaune said holstering one of his guns, "maybe I should switch to close range weapons so I don't use up all my ammo..."

Jaune had multiple magazines of ammo, making sure he had as much as possible, but in his limited experience it was better to be safe rather than sorry. He slipped the other gun in its holster before pulling out his sword.

It was better for hacking through the shrubbery anyway.

Jaune continued on his trek through the forest and often used the direction he had landed in as a guide, he didn't know exactly where he was supposed to be headed, but he knew he would reach his goal eventually. Then he thought about the people he could partner with, Ruby and Weiss didn't seem too bad, they were both obviously skilled and pleasant in their own ways, Yang was a bit too...bright for a regular Joe like him. Besides, he had the oddest feeling that she would not at all agree on the want to keep his chest and face covered at all times. He didn't know much about the other people though he remembered seeing the red-haired amazoness and a few other people on the dust-plane, but he honestly didn't know them.

He sighed as he walked into a clearing, maybe if he didn't find anyone he could go solo...sounded like a pretty good idea actually. He wasn't really opposed to the idea of a partner but really, he doubted anyone would like to partner with him.

He looked at the clearing and decided to try to climb a tree to see if he could find the area he was supposed to head to. He took a few practice bends and activated his aura, he focused them on his legs and shot forward when he reached a tree he began to run up it and leapt onto the highest branch he could reach. Flipping onto that, he jumped on another and another until he reached the top.

"Okay now..." He mumbled, scanning the horizon.

He ignored the cliffs and mountains and eventually settled his gaze on what seemed to be a looming tower or spire-like object in the distance.

Well it was certainly eye-catching, and the only man-made object he saw so far.

"Bingo…" he murmured.

He jumped of the tree and stabbed his sword into it, slowing his descent to the ground, when he was low enough, he pushed off the tree and landed in a crouch on the ground. He heard a rustling in the bush and pulled out a pistol.

"Who is there?" Jaune growled.

Just then a familiar short girl with long white hair stumbled into the clearing. She huffed impatiently and straightened her dress. She hadn't looked up yet and Jaune blinked, apparently she hadn't heard him, so he inched behind the tree. He lowered his hood and hid. She probably wanted to join the amazoness, (he really needed to learn her name, calling her that would be weird) and who was Jaune to get in the way of that?

"Jaune I know you're here." Weiss said.

'Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the-' Jaune pleaded in his head.

"Seeing that that tree has sword marks on it, I am going to go out on a limb and say you're behind it." She stated matter-of-factly.

Jaune sighed and walked out from behind the tree, hood low and head down, "Technically, our eyes haven't met, so you don't have to be my teammate if you don't want to Weiss."

She raised an eyebrow and gave me a coolly amused stare, "Why would I not want to, you seem decently competent, just promise me you won't slow me down."

He grinned, "I can definitely promise that, but our eyes still haven't met."

"You should lower your hood then."

Jaune tensed, he blew out a breath before responding, "My face isn't exactly...a normal teen's. I have scars."

She huffed a light laugh, like the tinkling of bells "So do I. Besides if I have to be your partner for the next four years, I might as well get used to it."

"You don't...I-" he sighed, "Fine, I'll show you."

'Dad, probably doesn't count my hood as a sufficient barrier anyway…'

He gripped his hood and pulled it back. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for a reaction. His scars never became a milky white that faded away slightly. Just the opposite they were jagged and dark, like the beowolves had left traces of their fur tones on his face. The comments from the first day of school swam through his head.

It took a minute but he heard her say, "You have blonde hair?"

His eyes snapped open, she was looking a bit shocked, but she wasn't overly repulsed or disgusted "Really? That's your first comment?"

She shrugged but it came off a bit forced, "It explains why you kept your hood up, my scar doesn't even seem to exist compared to those." She looked at him straight on, "Well we made eye contact, guess we are partners."

He shook his head but grinned at her as he slipped his hood on, "I guess so."

She walked up to him and yanked his hood back, "Honestly, don't be ashamed of them, which only serves to give people a chance to make fun of you for it! Chin up!" She commanded

Jaune blinked and scratched his head with a surprised expression, "But I look like-"

"-Nothing horrible. Just someone who has been through a lot and has the scars to show it." She said firmly.

He smiled a timid smile, "You think so?"

She nodded once before stalking forward, "Now come on, we can't spend all day talking."

Jaune grinned, "Weiss, you're going the wrong way. We should head over there." he gestured to their right.

"And why is that?" She said.

"The sword marks on that tree are from me climbing said tree, I saw some old ruins. I figured they might have put the relics in there."

Weiss nodded, "I see…I suppose we can go that way…"

Jaune raised an eyebrow, a grin forming on his face "If it hurts so much to concede to the idea…"

She frowned at him, "Just shut up and get moving."

* * *

Jaune yawned and rubbed at his eyes sleepily. Weiss cast him a sidelong glance and shook her head. Jaune looked groggy, but not tired.

He yawned again.

Weiss sighed.

"Sorry, I am perpetually tired at all times when I am not doing something interesting, or so I have been told. If there is not much to do my body just like to rest since I don't get all that much sleep at night."

"And why is that?"

Weiss saw Jaune's shoulders rise an inch as he visibly tensed, she regretted asking why.

"No reason, I just don't sleep comfortably…I haven't in a long while. I am lucky to get a dreamless night every month or so."

"Dreamless?"

Jaune sighed, "I have nightmares. Bad nightmares that relate to…" he gestured helplessly at his scars, it wasn't lost on Weiss that his gesture included his torso.

Weiss bit back her questions, Jaune looked really uncomfortable, and silence that had been companionable had quickly become awkward and strained. Weiss glanced again when she saw the scars on his face ran down the side of his neck. How bad were the scars that went from his face all the way to his torso? Weiss racked her mind for something to say that would break the tension when Jaune looked at her rapier.

"So…cool weapon, mind giving me a few details?" he asked, gesturing to her rapier.

She sighed inwardly in relief; Jaune made a good save, "My rapier is called Myrtenaster, it's a multi-action dust rapier. The cylinder holds dust for me to use, currently I haven't been using any so I have a full cartridge for the moment."

"Do you carry refills?"

"Two full cylinders and multiple vials of dust so I can refill the cartridge if necessary and if I have the time."

"Hmmm…I see. That's pretty neat. What your aura style?"

"I use glyphs to help me move faster and that act as a step in midair. They can also be used to augment others."

"Okay, now that's really badass." Jaune said with a smile.

Weiss laughed, "Thanks."

"No problem Weiss, I am calling it as I see it."

"What about you? You carry two swords and a full metal sheathe, not to mention your pistols, and your armor doesn't it weigh you down."

"No, they are all lightweight and really durable, besides I practiced moving as much as I can in this set, and in all weathers, drove dad mad when I got sick." Jaune chuckled, remember seeing Ozpin panic the first time he had gotten sick and run around with a multiple medicines and thermometer.

"Oh, by the way, who is your father?" Weiss inquired.

"Not allowed to say, well that and I am adopted. Not that matters, I consider him my dad, he done a lot for me that many others wouldn't have." Jaune said, feeling the cold sting of the locket of his biological father and mother.

"You're adopted?" Weiss sounded a bit surprised.

Jaune gestured to his face and torso.

Her eyes widened, "I –um…sorry."

He waved it off and smiled a bit sadly, "You didn't know, it's alright. It was a long time ago. Not directly related to my um…scars, but they died before I was old enough to remember them."

Right then an Ursa flew through the trees, plowing through them.

On fire.

Jaune and Weiss dived for cover and looked curiously at the smoking heap of burned flesh. Jaune instinctively pulled his hood on and glanced around. He saw Yang whose eyes were…red.

Well now he knew not to mess with her, well at least if he wanted to keep his body parts in the right places and things like that.

Another Ursa charged at her and she yelled, "What? You want some?"

Weiss muttered weakly, "Okay, you're right they are definitely skilled."

"Yeah…" He replied in an undertone.

There was a small 'shnk' and the Ursa -which had been standing on its hind legs, about to attack- pitched forward dead with the black-haired girl's weapon buried in its back.

Yang shrugged, "I could have taken 'em."

Jaune got up, feeling that if they showed up Yang wouldn't kill them by accident in a fit of rage. He got up and offered his hand to Weiss, who used it to pull herself up. He motioned toward the castle they had seen. Weiss did want to stop and talk to the other students.

"Why not stop and talk to them?" Weiss demanded.

"All the hopefuls will eventually meet at the temple." Jaune replied slicing through some low-hanging branches, "We might as well get there first just so we know exactly what to expect and what we are supposed to gather, besides in lieu of that thought, it would be better to wait for larger group, as I assume Yang will wait for Ruby and her partner."

Weiss wanted to argue, but it would look good to be there first, not to mention she was sure that Yang girl and that other girl could definitely destroy any trouble they got themselves into.

**(A.N. if you remember the argument, Weiss is still a bit peeved about that)**

* * *

Jaune and Weiss passed into the clearing and saw the small temple with chess pieces on all the stands.

"Chess pieces?" Jaune said.

"So it seems…" Weiss said studying the pieces closely.

"Well how about we take one…or is it two?" Jaune murmured running his hand over the rook chess piece.

"Hmmm…. Well it think it's take one for each grouping of two. Some of the pedestals are empty, others must have arrived here before us and taken a chess piece or two." Weiss said.

"Okay then how about a rook then? Or do you want to take a knight?" Jaune asked.

"You don't mind?"

He smiled, "Nah, whatever makes you comfortable."

Weiss was about to choose when a loud shout echoed across the clearing, "Hey everybody! We're here!"

Weiss and Jaune both turned to see Yang who was striding across the clearing a wide grin stretching across her face. Weiss saw Jaune had quickly drawn up his hood, before she could comment though she was cut off. Yang waved.

"Jaune! What's up? I am surprised you got here before us."

"We could have talked but I wasn't too keen on stopping, Weiss and I had stuff to do, like getting here and picking up a relic. We decided to wait for others to show up."

Yang pouted, "You should've stopped to say hello…"

Jaune patted her shoulder, "I'm sorry then, I'll not make it a point to greet you every time we see each other, okay?"

Yang chuckled, "See that you do."

"So are you going to introduce us to the young lady in black?" Jaune said waving his hand.

"Hello, Jaune, I am Blake Belladonna." Said woman replied quietly.

"Nice to meet you, Blake, you know my name but my full name Is Jaune Arc."

She smiled and looked at the pieces, "So are those the relics?"

Jaune shrugged, "Weiss and I believe so, and I think it will affect our grouping, but that's just my intuition."

"So, Weiss," Yang said, "Where'd you meet, Jaune?"

She smirked, "He was-"

"In a clearing, um, behind a tree, I was climbing down, she thinks I was hiding." Jaune cut in.

"You were!" Weiss retorted.

"I was simply pulling my sword out of the tree, which is why I didn't respond the first few times you said something." He lied nonchalantly.

"That is a total lie."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is…no, we are not getting into this."

"You would've lost anyway…" She said, crossing her arms.

"No I wouldn't have." Jaune said.

"Yes, you would!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No…DAMMIT WEISS!" he growled.

**{PAGE BREAK}_**

Blake and Yang had already selected a knight piece and were watching to the two bicker.

"Wow, they really work well together, don't they?" Yang said, nudging Blake in the ribs.

"I suppose." Blake replied smiling.

Right then a dying Ursa roared as it clambered into the clearing, right before a blast of pink plasma spread over its back and it fell forward dead. And orange-haired girl dressed in what seemed to be a cross between armor and a dress tumbled off its head and pouted as she inspected the burning hole she had made in its back. Everybody had taken their stances and before realizing they were looking at another hopeful.

"Aww, it's broken." She mumbled.

A boy in a green robe-like shirt and cream pants with a pink stripe of hair panted as he rested his hands on his knees, "Nora *pant* promise me you'll never *pant* do that again."

He looked up to see his friend –now identified as Nora- was inspecting one of the pedestals that had a rook on it. She grabbed and began to sing and pose.

"I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~"

"Nora!" her friend barked, irritated.

She made the rook piece rolled off her leg into her hand as she giggled, "Coming Ren!"

Just then everybody heard a scream of "HEADS UP!"

The six looked up to see two screaming redheads falling from the sky.

"Umm…I think that's Ruby…and the amazoness from the locker rooms…" Jaune said.

"Her name is Pyrrha Nikos." Weiss said.

"Oh that's good to know…shouldn't we, I dunno, try to catch them or something?" Jaune said.

"Probably…" Yang supplied.

"Okay…" Jaune strode into the middle of the clearing and charged his aura.

And began to run to the edge. He zipped up a tree and crouched on a tree branch before launching himself sideways and catching Ruby. He flipped and gently deposited her on the ground before leaping forward and catching Pyrrha in a bridal hold.

"Heya." He said smiling as he landed.

"Um hello, um…" she said, turning red.

He set her on her feet and turned to look at the sky.

"Jaune, my name is Jaune, but introductions can be done later, is that a Nevermore?" He asked.

Said Nevermore screamed in range before swerving towards us. Jaune noticed smaller shapes detach themselves from shadows and began to prowl the edges of the clearing.

Beowolves, quite a few of them.

"Well looks like it's become a crowd," Jaune said grimly, sliding his sword into the over sword. White fire glimmered along the edges of the blade, gleaming like a star, "might as well party."

His hand slid into his sheathe and it mechashifted as he raised a shield.

With a battle cry, he charged.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter out hope you guys like it, Drop a review if you can!**

* * *

Jaune sliced into another beowolf and rolled forwards to jab a second one in the ribs. He ripped it out of the Beowolf's side and whirled around. He ducked under the outstretched arms of another Beowolf and grabbed it in a chokehold and rammed his blade straight down its mouth and into its throat.

"Taste bad?" he growled as he twisted the blade before pulling it out.

Jaune dropped back and flipped his oversword back into a black sword and caught it his left hand after quickly mechashifting his shield back into a sheath again. He thought the horde of wolves would be the most troublesome, but as another hail of feathers peppered the ground where he was standing, he again wished he had a better long range weapon to deal with the Nevermore. He was starting to get annoyed, his guns were nowhere near strong enough to kill the bird, they irritated it, but that was all it did. He knocked one feather aside with an aura-powered slice of his knight's sword. He skidded back a grimace forming on his face. The Nevermore began to fire even more of its deadly feathered projectiles at Jaune, who growled in annoyance.

He swung both his blades through intricate webs and flourishes, knocking the feathers away or redirecting them. Each shot pushed him back as he began to skid and be pushed back before he eventually hit a slight rise in the earth and fell back. He threw himself sideways out of the way of another feather and barely got to his feet before Weiss fired a dust spell at the bird drawing its attention.

"Idiot!" she yelled as she moved –or actually looked like she had danced- straight through a buckshot of projectiles, weaving through the deadly feathers, "Your guns don't have the necessary power to kill that thing and using your sword won't help!"

He shot forward using his aura and slammed into a Beowolf about to tackle her. The Beowolf growled and tried to slash at him, but Jaune had not spent eight years under Ozpin's and his instructors' tutelage for nothing. He grappled the Beowolf and slammed it into the ground with more than enough force to kill it. Of course he made sure though.

He stabbed both of his swords into the downed grimm's chest as he responded, "I know that! If I could get higher up I might be able to kill it…" His eyes brightened as an idea shot through his head, "Weiss can you launch me up there using your aura glyphs?"

She frowned, "You could easily miss, and it's quick for something so big. That isn't even the whole problem either, what happens when you get on?"

"Well it's either that or try to match it in endurance and I am sure we won't win that one!" he said as he cut another Beowolf in half.

The rest of the teams were doing fine. Yang and Blake were slicing and smashing Beowolves into puppy chow at the rate they were going, Ruby and Pyrrha were sending Beowolf parts flying into the air, and Ren and Nora worked in seamless tandem, knocking away all opposition. The only problem was the bird. If Jaune could get in close enough to use his shield, he could easily give a few bruises and maybe even deter it, but even his shield had limits. He couldn't make it a chainsickle weapon like Blake's or a gun. Weiss conjured an aura glyph as the Nevermore launched another barrage of feathers. He noticed Weiss beginning to sweat and glyphs waver under the force of the barrage.

"Ugh, I wish I had wings, at least then I could try to fight it." Jaune grumbled lowly as he noticed the bird seem to aim at Yang and Blake, "YANG! BLAKE! MOVE!"

They both leapt aside as arrows splintered the trees they had been fighting near. Jaune scowled at the avian-type grimm. Things couldn't stay like this, they need some sort of plan…

Jaune had an idea.

Jaune dashed into the trees and climbed up a tree, ignoring Weiss looking at him in shock. He brought out his guns and fired at the bird. At a closer range the bullets had a bit more of an effect and he bird cawed before it fired feathers at him. He threw himself into another tree's branches as feathers broke through the wood and nearly sliced him into ribbons. He didn't even wince as he felt a piece of wood graze his side.

"JAUNE! GET OUT OF THERE!" Weiss screeched, looking horrified, "YOU CAN'T KILL IT ALONE!"

She was probably right, what he was doing was idiotic, and borderline suicidal.

But hell it was a plan that if it worked out as he planned, it would probably only wound him severely.

Well that or kill him.

He really hoped it would be the first option, it would be mildly irritating if he died now.

Jaune blocked her and his new classmates' shouts of protest out as he focused, he didn't need to be distracted. He jumped through the trees and slammed one of his pistols on top of another a blade slid out of the top as it became an automatic armblade rifle. He shot several salvos at the bird after slamming a heavier more damaging ammo cartridge in the slot, making it angry.

'Come on, just a bit more…' Jaune pleaded in his mind.

He pulled out his knight's sword once again as his crazy plan was now firmly in motion.

"Come on you feathered wuss! Come get some!" He roared, it seemed to hesitate between him and his classmates, "DAMMIT, YOU FUCKING OVERGROWN PIGEON, LOOK AT ME YOU UGLY FLYING SHIT!

Apparently that last comment made it choose Jaune first.

The bird began to fly a bit away and dive at the speck that was irritating it. There was a sound akin to roar as the Nevermore plowed into the trees where Jaune was waiting. Jaune jumped and as it flew just under him and stabbed his sword downwards into its feather-covered neck, using his aura to help the blade pierce through the tough hide. The Nevermore realized Jaune had climbed onto it and began to sway in its flight, trying to dislodge him. Jaune growled and slipped his guns into their holsters as he slipped his left hand into his mechashift sheath and grabbed his sword with his right.

"Alright your overgrown pigeon..." Jaune growled as his shield mechashifted into a gauntlet, which began glowing with aura, "EAT THIS!"

He began to pummel the bird with the massive gauntlet, slamming it repeatedly in the face and torso until there were cracks starting to spread through the bone mask of the bird. The bird squawked and cawed in pain and rage before it began to roll and spin like it was performing a circus routine. Jaune clung to his sword and cursed as he felt it begin to slide out. He changed his gauntlet into a double ended halberd, Jaune pushed it to the limit; flooding it with aura making it gleam like a star exploding into a supernova.

He took a lunging step forward and sheathe his knight's sword into his oversword sheathe, he grasped the double halberd with both hands and stabbed as hard as he could into the grimm's neck.

The bird let out a gurgled shriek of pure pain, making the forest quake and Jaune's ears ring like he was standing next to an alarm bell. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried it tough out what felt like someone pushing hot spikes of pain through his scalp and directly into his brain. He felt lightheaded and realized two things as his head slowly put together the pieces of his predicament.

One, the Nevermore was dead and falling.

Two, he was on said falling Nevermore, nearly passing out.

Well damn.

This would be more than mildly troublesome.

He started wrapping his entire body in his aura, trying to shield himself as much as he could. Of course with all the trees and breaking branches, one of the dead Nevermore's wings hit the back of his head and knocked him into a state where he was about to pass out. He pulled even more aura into his impromptu second skin and the last thing he heard was Weiss scream his name as he blacked out.

* * *

Weiss sprinted over to where the Nevermore had crashed. Jaune couldn't be dead, but she wouldn't accept it until she saw it. Then again he had crashed into so many trees, he couldn't have lived. She burst into the new clearing as she scanned the crash site. The body of the Nevermore was motionless, and it was undeniably dead. Black grimm blood dripped slowly from the gash through its neck and pooled on the floor. Everybody who had followed gaped at the size of the gash in its neck.

"Jaune?! Jaune, where are you?!" she called out frantically.

She circled around and gasped as she saw him sprawled out on the ground on a pile of broken wood. White fire was still emanating and floating off him in small bursts as his aura worked to heal him. She ran over and her hands fluttered over his torso as she debated trying to rouse him to wake up. His hood was torn off and his clothes and armor was banged up and torn. She glanced at the small cuts and her gaze traveled lower she gasped as she saw a piece of wood buried in his thigh. Blood had soaked the wood and dripped of the shard of wood in a slow rhythm.

Jaune groaned and stirred, "Ow…"

Immediately he heard a relieved sigh and he looked up to see Weiss slump in relief. His classmates breathed a sigh of relief as they heard him move. Jaune tried to get up when he realized his right shoulder was not responding and hurting quite a lot. He grunted as he felt the arm and knew it was dislocated. He felt his aura begin to knit up his other small cuts and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked cautiously.

"My arm is dislocated…You want to push it in?" He asked casually as if her were asking her to choose him a jacket to wear.

"Um…" Weiss looked uncertain.

"Okay then, I guess I'll do it." Jaune said after seeing her hesitate.

He grabbed his shoulder and locked a snarl of pain as he shoved his shoulder back into its socket with an audible "POP". He squeezed one eye shut in pain as he rotated his arm carefully, ignoring the pain. He looked and saw the shard of wood in his leg. Before Weiss could even try to stop him, he grabbed the shard of wood and pulled it out of his leg. He opened a pouch on his belt and immediately wrapped the bleeding gash in his leg. Weiss watched in slight disbelief as he painfully got to his feet.

"Remind me to find a way to later on how to deal with overgrown birds without getting myself hurt so much." He chuckled.

Then out of nowhere Weiss punched him really hard in the uninjured shoulder, "You absolute and utter moron!"

"Ow," he yelled, "what the hell was that for?"

"For trying to kill a Nevermore alone!" she growled.

"For the record, I did kill a Nevermore, I didn't try! And beside that you're not supposed an injured person!" he yelled.

The classmates watched in disbelief as those two argued. Then they looked at Jaune's face and saw his scars, a collective gasp went up. Jaune and Weiss were too wrapped up in their argument to notice, but Yang was staring, Blake closed her eyes, Pyrrha looked away, Nora hid behind Ren – who blinked in shock- and Ruby sighed as she analyzed all their reactions.

Jaune and Weiss stopped arguing before Jaune looked up and realized hood had been ripped out. He blinked and shadowed as much of his face as he could with his bangs. Weiss turned and saw the group staring and sighed.

Great he knew this would happen.

* * *

Jaune rubbed bandaged knee absentmindedly, "Looks like it's a bit better now…"

Weiss watched as he undid the bandage, "Hey wait, you should wait until-"

Jaune pulled off the now-red bandage and his leg looked as if there wasn't any damage to it at all. The blood stains and tear were the only sign that he had any damage done to the area at all. He looked up and saw everybody look away from him hurriedly except Ruby. He frowned and let himself fall behind. Weiss put a hand on his back and forced him to keep up.

"Can you stop?" he mumbled.

"No, you are moping and I refu-"

"Let go. NOW." He said, his voice dropped but was no less clear.

"Jaune…?" Weiss asked dropping her hand.

"I'm taking a slightly different path in the route back, I can tell when I am not wanted." He said.

He slowed down and veered slightly to the right before leaving in a flash of aura.

"Now look at what you've done!" Ruby cried throwing up her arms.

Weiss followed up, despite wondering how Ruby knew, "He's sensitive about his scars, and no doubt your constant staring was making him uncomfortable!"

"Well sorry but you had have to admit his face KINDA draws attention!" Yang retorted, despite the embarrassed blush on her face, she was in the wrong, and she knew it.

"Ruby and Weiss are right though," Ren interjected, "We shouldn't be staring."

"So you're saying I'm wrong?" Yang said, hands on her hips, she may have been wrong but she knew for a fact Ren, Blake, Nora, and Pyrrha were too.

"No, but we have to be considerate, we were blatantly staring when we probably shouldn't have, I'll be the first to say his face draws attention, but we really shouldn't have acted like that." Ren said his hands up.

They looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Well, I guess you're right, do any of you know what happened to him?" Blake asked.

Weiss shrugged helplessly, "All I know is that it happened to him a while ago."

"So…do we wait for him?" Pyrrha asked uncertainly.

"No, he said he would go on ahead." Weiss said walking past the group.

"He took off in a direction that isn't heading to the cliff, how will that get him there?" Ruby asked.

Weiss grinned, "Who said he wanted to go back to the cliff?"

* * *

When they had returned to the cliff they saw Jaune resting there, had a white jacket with a red sigil on the back, he had no hood. He glared at them with bleary eyes, it was clear he was napping. Ozpin and Glynda were nowhere to be found.

"Took you long enough, I've been here for fifteen minutes." Jaune muttered as he got up, "Anyway you guys are supposed to head back. If you're worried about grouping Ozpin knows what pieces you picked up and which group are put in, so don't stress too much about it.

He began to walk back but Ren caught his shoulder, "Hey Jaune?"

"Yes?"

"I –no- We are sorry." He said firmly, everybody nodded in agreement.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head, and turned to smile sheepishly, everybody blinked at the sudden boyish charming look his face had taken, his scars didn't detract from the image at all, "I already forgave you, some friends told me to get used to it, I believed in what they said, but I am quick to anger. But the sorry was a nice thing, so thank you very much."

"Wait you're not angry? Even a little?" Yang asked, despite Ruby's attempt to shush her, she had spoken out.

He stopped dead, "If you want me to be, I can act like that…" he turned to them with such a sad smile and heartbroken look that it could melt Glynda Goodwitch's heart, "But why should I? I am the one who is different with my ugly scarred face, right? People like me are usually ostracized, right? Why should I expect any better?"

He turned and walked off, and for the first time -but definitely not the last- the same group of teens wished they could erase that look from his face. They watched as the young man retreating back as he walked towards the academy in the distance. Weiss broke out when she realized that was her partner, she jogged after him. When she reached him he turned around and gave her a blank look.

"Yeah? You need something?" He asked.

"Yeah, where do you think you're going?" Weiss asked angrily, pointing an accusing finger at him.

He jerked back, eyes wide, "Wha…? I was just going to the stage to wait for team pairing."

She stepped closer and glared at him, "Yeah, and you do realize we are team members right?"

"Well yeah, but-" he said backing up a bit.

"But nothing! We are a team, sure you may have little confidence in people, and you have no sense of self-preservation, but you are a skilled fighter and my teammate! We stick together."

He blinked and suddenly a huge smile blossomed over his face, Weiss blinked.

"Yeah, we're a team, you think you can keep up?" He asked, a teasing tone entered his voice.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "I should be asking that, scraggly."

"Whoa now, why do you think you are calling scraggly, huh Ms. uptight and I-am-so-perfect?"

"Hey I never said I was perfect!" she retorted, despite her indignant and reproaching tone, a grin stretched out over her face.

"By dust! The snow angel has a heart! Quick somebody pinch me!"

*THOCK*

"DAMMIT WEISS I SAID 'PINCH' NOT 'PUNCH OR WHACK UPSIDE HEAD'" Jaune yelled.

Weiss smiled smugly, "You should have specified more…"

Jaune sputtered, "What? Oh come on! That is totally and completely a lie! You knew exactly what I meant! Hey don't ignore me woman!"

Ozpin watched smiling at his son. He was glad, thing may just look up for him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this took a while to write out school and stuff you know?**

**Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

After looking for him, Tucker and Velvet greeted Jaune enthusiastically, practically tackling him in a hug. Jaune was more relieved than he thought possible when he saw them, he knew the forest was no pushover and to see them make it out safely made all the worries and apprehension in his chest melt away. He introduced his friends to Weiss and the rest of the group that he had met in the forest. Weiss seemed more reluctant than he thought at first but he managed to get her to be cordial.

"I am glad you guys made it!" Jaune exclaimed, "I got a bit beat up for my troubles in the forest."

"I noticed…" Velvet murmured, glancing down at the bloodstains on Jaune's pants.

"So how do you know Jaune?" Blake seemed curious why as to why Jaune would make friends with Faunus.

Tucker flashed her his trademark smile, "Well Jaune met me when we both we little, he returned a ball to me despite me being a Faunus and pretty much called everyone an idiot for making assumptions that we were less. We were pretty tight from then on, Jaune and I ran into Velvet alone at her lunch table and we couldn't help but hang out with her, it's done wonders for her confidence, she know can look someone in the eye rather than blush and hide behind us, like she did in the beginning!"

That last comment earned him a smack upside the head from Velvet, "Shut up…" she muttered, her ears lowering in embarrassment, she used to think everyone was out to get her!

Jaune chuckled, "Yeah we are practically brothers and sisters now, besides Tucker acts just like an annoying younger sibling!"

"Hey! I take offense to that statement!" Ruby said vehemently.

Jaune held his hands up, "Well ask Yang for the truth, she a better choice in proving me wrong right…right Yang?"

Yang glowered at him, "Don't make me add to collection you got going on your face."

Jaune's eyes flashed, not with amusement or hurt, but with pure and total rage, he scowled and his eyes flashed with white fire. It was for a nanosecond but it was enough to make Velvet and Tucker both put a hand on his shoulder. Jaune looked at them emotionlessly before shrugging and looking as if nothing happened. Yang on the other hand looked utterly ashamed, she had forgotten about Jaune's sensitivity when people referred to his scars. She saw Ruby move up behind her and let herself get smacked upside the head by Ruby.

"Seriously Yang?" Ruby hissed.

"I am sorry! I forgot!" She insisted.

"Don't say that to me say it to him!" Ruby growled.

Yang turned to Jaune with her mouth open, be he already had his hand up, "Just drop it, okay? We forget it happened, alright?"

Yang nodded, a bit subdued. Velvet and Tucker both glared at her for a second before turning away.

"Sooo… anything else you want to know about how the three of us know each other?" Tucker said awkwardly.

Nobody spoke up.

'Thank you for screwing up the conversation Yang...' Weiss sighed in her head, 'Would it honestly kill you to think before you speak?

* * *

Jaune absently rubbed his leg as his group stepped up. Ozpin's eyes flashed to Jaune's bloodstains as people muttered as Jaune walked past. He stopped in front of Ozpin as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His friends stood in a line next to him seeming calm, well, except for Nora.

"Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren. You have carried with you the White Rook piece. You will be known as Team JWNR."

Jaune smothered a snicker as Nora threw her arms around Ren exuberantly.

Jaune leaned down, "You picked the white rook?"

Weiss looked smug, "Someone had to pick up a piece while you were carving up beowolves."

Jaune chuckled, "You're sounding a bit uppity, we don't want any swelled heads now, and you got an enough of an ego for the four of us as it is."

Weiss huffed, "Shut up, scraggly."

"Snow Angel."

"That's not an insult." She muttered, flushing red.

"Still makes you all red and flustered, good enough for me." He said deviously.

She opened her mouth to hiss a response, but Ozpin cut her off, "The leader of the team will be Jaune Arc."

Jaune frowned, "What?" A movement mirrored by Weiss.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said.

Jaune glared daggers at his dad, his eyes screamed, 'You can't be serious!'

Ozpin's eyes were firm, 'I'll explain later.'

Jaune sighed and moved off the stage, hands stuffed in his pocket and a scowl threatening to break through his neutral expression.

Weiss was grumpy, "Why did he choose you for leader?" She muttered sullenly.

"I know! What the hell is he thinking?" He growled as he watched Ruby, Pyrrha, Yang, and Blake step up and become Team RPBY.

"You're not happy?" She asked, eyes disbelieving.

"Hell no! I was banking on you being leader!" He growled, "I have no skills when it comes to leading people, I barely strategize! Heck, I prefer independence!"

"Someone doesn't like teamwork..." She muttered lowly.

"You could say that, but honestly I just don't like to drag everyone down." He murmured.

Weiss sent him an odd stare. He certainly didn't drag anyone down, especially in the forest when he decided to stab a Nevermore in the throat after climbing onto it. If anything while everybody had been unable to think of a suitable plan he was the only one who had a plan to take down the Nevermore. That and the fact he wanted to consider other options that were safer and more suited for the attack. He also kept an eye on his teammates warning Blake and Yang to move before the Nevermore could shoot them with feathers. If anything he had the qualities of a good -perhaps even great- leader.

"That isn't it." Weiss said matter-of-factly.

"Eh?" Jaune said, "What do you mean by that?"

"That isn't the reason you decided not to be a team leader, there is something else." She replied.

He laughed, except it sounded so fake it almost hurt to hear, "Yeah as if that hasn't been the reason for years why I would skip my turn as leader every time there was any sort of activity."

Weiss shrugged, "You don't even know why, but whatever it is you need to conquer it or you won't be an effective leader."

"I don't WANT to be a leader at all!" He protested.

"You don't have a choice, I can tell enough about Ozpin that he isn't budging on this no matter how much you insist, just accept it."

The worst part was, Jaune knew his teammate was right, Dad probably wasn't changing his mind.

* * *

"DAD. DON'T IGNORE ME." Jaune growled as he stood, hands slammed on his dad's desk.

"Jaune, you took down the Nevermore, and looked out for-" Ozpin sighed, knew his son would be adamant not to be a leader.

This adamant, Ozpin didn't expect.

Jaune wasn't taking this and he made it clear he wanted a change. Ozpin hoped that Jaune's want to look good at Beacon would mute his son's protests, but Jaune was just as bullheaded and stubborn as his mother and father put together and if not, more so. He told Ozpin multiple times that he didn't give a damn what people thought of him.

And he damn well demonstrated that to him.

He grabbed Ozpin's arm and growled "TALK. NOW." In front of a group of kids (which included his own team and some upperclassmen) and dragged him to his own office with the same look his mother had worn when interrupting John and Ozpin's multiple pranks when they attended Beacon years ago.

Lord, that look made his skin crawl.

Jaune glowered at Ozpin and crossed his arms, Glynda hid a small smile behind her hand. She had only witnessed a few of these occurrences at Ozpin's house, and every time it amused her to no end when Ozpin squirmed under his son's angered gaze. Jaune still waited and Ozpin knew that if he budged he would be gambling a lot more than his son's leadership skills, he would gamble his respect.

"It doesn't matter, Dad. I told you I didn't want to lead at all. You said I wouldn't." Jaune argued, cutting his dad off mid-speech.

"I said you might not, I never said you wouldn't." Ozpin said smugly.

Jaune looked like he was about to yell, but then his face smoothed over and he smiled.

SMILED.

Ozpin knew that smile.

"Fine. You want me to lead? Alright, I can do that, I'll do it VERY well. In fact, DAD, you'll be wishing you had set ANYONE else but me as team leader, if I am as stubborn as I like to think I am, then I am sure you have your work cut out for you." Jaune drawled slouching in his chair.  
Ozpin blinked, Jaune had pulled this stunt many times, and Ozpin knew exactly what it was.

Jaune slouched and slunk out of the room, giving Glynda a lecherous appraising grin and a 'hey babe' head jerk as he departed.  
Glynda burst out with giggles, the first time Jaune had pulled this stunt, Ozpin called his staff for help, and Glynda recorded how agitated and irritated he sounded. She quickly typed out a small message to all of the staff that Jaune knew.

'Jaune here and he is pulling THAT stunt again.'

* * *

Jaune walked into his new dorm room and flung his pack carelessly on the bed before flopping down on it without taking any of his clothes off including his shoes or armor. Weiss blinked, what the heck happened to him?

"It's only fair to warn you guys, but I am going to be a total prick and douche for the next while, however long that may be. So you may want to do things independent of my decisions." He yawned.

"Why?"

"Ozpin'll crack under this tactic sooner or later. I just need to act like I don't give a damn about my education."

Everybody knew how displeased Jaune was with the leadership situation, and to go about changing that like this…

"You're willing to go pretty far to get what you want…" Ren observed with a chuckle.

"Well I am not going to lead, that's for damn sure, and if it takes my most devious attitude so be it…you should probably shoot that as a text to Team RPBY too. I don't Yang to kill me after rearranging my organs."

Ren nodded and after sending off a text, and chuckled at the immediate reply, "They want to know why."

Jaune motioned for Ren to pass him the scroll, murmuring as he typed out, "I don't want to be team leader, Ozpin can only take so much of a disrespectful attitude before he decides to either yield, or beat me up, and honestly I think this is my best shot to get the first option..."

The reply was, "Don't be too bad."

Jaune sighed, "Sorry but I have to be at my absolute worst for this to work."

He finished the text and flipped Ren the scroll.

* * *

Weiss woke up the next day to see Jaune reading the monster course book for classes. Other course books were scattered on the bed, all of them dog-eared at certain points. He was fully dressed and he looked like he had showered. A lightly damp towel hung from his neck.

"So up before all of us?" She inquired sitting up and yawning.

Jaune shrugged mildly before replying, "I am studying all the course material, I plan to make up for the bad behavior complaints with top marks, that way, Ozpin knows he can't force me to behave using grades, I'll average B's at best, C's at worst. Da -Ozpin hates it when his students don't perform to the best of their abilities."

"What were you about to say?" Weiss asked.

"What are you talking about?" Jaune said stretching to cover the waver in his voice.

"You were going to say something, but you changed midway through and started about Ozpin hating his students failing."

"Haha, you're hearing things Snow Angel." Jaune said nonchalantly, knowing this taunt would throw Weiss off a bit.

She huffed, irritated, "Would you stop calling me that?"

"Nope, it's either this or Ms. Uppity or Silverlocks." Jaune said casually as he got out of his bed as he checked the time.

"What?! Can't you call me Weiss, you blond dolt!" She growled, face red.

"One, that's no fun. Two, your cruel words hurt me so, Snow Angel. Three, how can I stop when you blush so cutely every time I call you that?" He said, grinning broadly.

Weiss threw a hangar at him, and Jaune caught it with a smile, "Hangars? Imagine the damage! I could have died!"

"One can only hope..." Weiss muttered darkly.

"What was that, Snow Angel?"

"I am going to beat to an inch of your life Jaune!"

Jaune laughed.

* * *

Before they left, Jaune untucked half of his shirt and lessened his tie until it was barely tied at all. He ruffled the back of his hair giving him a bad case of bed head, and he threw his backpack carelessly over one shoulder, and put sneakers on rather than the recommended dress shoes. His usually bright mannered and straight personality seemed to dull overall. He looked and acted like a slacker rather than a normal –let alone good- student. Ren looked at Jaune in mild worry and amusement.

"You really pulling out all the stops, aren't you?"

Jaune chuckled normally, "I have to, and Ozpin needs to know how serious I am."

"How do you know how to deal with headmaster Ozzy?" Nora inquired.

Jaune grinned, "One, people might say I have experience dealing with him. Two, that is a fantastic nickname Nora."

Nora smiled even wider that compliment. Jaune took a seat at the back of the class while the rest of his team moved a bit away from him. Professor Port walked in and Jaune kicked up his feet onto the empty chair next to him, grinning. Peter Port used to regale him of stories that had Peter himself at the protagonist when he was a bit younger while he and Ozpin were living in the house. While they were horrendously long (and were the perfect remedy for insomnia), there was a lot of useful techniques hidden in the lecture. Peter's overblown details made great guides, and although his moves were flashy and pretty, they were powerful.

Jaune put his notebook on his leg and flipped the cap off his pen. He was hoping that he would be seen, it wouldn't help if Professor Port saw him. Peter was the kind of guy that if he saw you would make no doubt he knew you from before and implied that you were a treasured acquaintance or (more likely) friend.

And…

Professor Port spotted Jaune and laughed, "Well now, isn't this a surprise? You've sprouted like an Ursa Major, Jaune!"

Jaune blushed slightly, "I drink a lot of milk, Professor."

The class glanced at Jaune and did a double take as they saw how unorganized he seemed. Jaune might as well wear his normal armor, Peter wasn't someone who cared very much for appearance, except when it came to his moustache. He sighed, Peter would definitely say-

"Jaune, you look as though you had just fallen down some stairs! Had a rough morning? I can't fault you lad, I have them in the beginning too. By the way, over the message Glynda sent -does she mean 'that' stunt?" he said quite loudly.

Jaune began to slump even more in his seat, he nodded mutely, face red.

Peter laughed, "I see, we'll see how it turns out for you then, anyway let's start the class!"

Jaune let out a muted groan and facedesked, 'Lovely, now everyone knows I know Peter from before…'

Jaune eyes drifted to the window as Professor Port ran through the four-billion and seventh take of his capturing the den mother of a pack of beowolves. Jaune had heard it before and had even used less flashy versions of attacks and parries in his fights, it was a bit difficult to glean the teachings though. Jaune eyes tracked a bird flying through the sky and sighed, lucky thing. Jaune usually hated flying, dustplanes gave motion sickness and he was only barely getting over his nausea when climbing aboard. He imagined the rides would be so much smoother with wings, as a kid Jaune would love to run as fast as he could with other kids of the orphanage, the wind hitting his face brought a sort of rush he could never fully explain.

He had sat there in a stupor for quite some time, waiting for the class to end when suddenly he heard a growl from the front of the class. He blinked but refused to look, not this. God, the first time Peter offered to train Jaune, he brought a beowolf for Jaune to fight. Jaune had been scared –hell, terrified- since it was his first grim since the incident...

* * *

The beowolf charged and Jaune raised his shield only to wait for a few seconds to see the beowolf cleanly decapitated and crashing to the floor. Ozpin sheathed the blade in his cane, and quite literally began yelling at Peter for even trying that while Jaune sat numb and trembling on the ground. He shakily got to his feet and told his dad and Peter sorry before bolting into the house and curling up on his bed like he could protect himself from the anxiety. As he finally calmed down he realized he need to fight Grimm, freezing like that would only get him killed.

He asked for another chance and Peter happily obliged. Jaune had faced a variety of Grimm thanks to Peter and though he came out on top, he always doubted whether or not it would be good to teach anyone like that. Especially when Peter began to handicap Jaune in the fights.

* * *

Shaking off the memories, Jaune looked at the cage and recognized the growls and snorts coming from the cage this was undoubtedly a boarbatusk.

"So who believes themselves to have all the qualities of a true hunter in training?" Peter called.

Weiss hand along with several other's flashed into the air. Peter saw Jaune look away and duck his head. A mistake, never let Peter see you try to duck out of a challenge or not take it, he would force you into it if he caught you.

"Jaune how about you take a crack at it?" Professor called.

Jaune groaned, "Handicap or no?"

"Handicap if you please Jaune."

"Fine."

Everybody began to mutter what handicap meant when Jaune began to move down the steps from the back of the class. Jaune undid his tie and shrugged out of his blazer, depositing both of them on his chair. He undid the collar buttons and untucked his shirt as he stepped down the stairs; everyone saw his gun holsters flash in the lighting in the room. Everybody realized he would be taking it on with what he had on him and nothing else, some stared while other mumbled he was dead. Fat Chance. He put his hands into a southpaw style and took a deep breath. Peter drew his axe and slashed the lock, letting the boarbatusk out. It immediately squealed and charged at Jaune.

Jaune rolled sideways and kicked the monster in the side as it passed him. It was almost impossible to stop a boarbatusk charge without tools or weapons, you could redirect it and move it off course, but not stop it. One would need a barrier strong enough to keep it from breaking through. The monster squealed as it tumbled onto its side and slid across the floor. Jaune spun both guns in his hands and slammed them together, forming his bladed assault rifle. Jaune spun it and gripped it like a tonfa, he grinned, he was glad he managed to add this feature to his guns before he got on the dustplane.

The boar was back on its feet and jumped into the air before rolling towards him like a very angry tire. Jaune covered his weapon with aura and braced it in front of him as the boar crashed into him. Jaune skidded back, but he refused to fall, that would be a fatal mistake. With a shout he used the momentum of the monster and a burst of aura to send it into the air. He crouched and leapt upwards, slicing into the beast's stomach with the blade on his tonfa. He landed and retracted his tonfa into his two guns before holstering them (with a sigh as the dead Grimm crashed to the floor, dramatics were something you tended to do around Peter).

"Very well done, very well done indeed my boy! You have gotten much better since I last saw you!" Peter applauded.

Jaune smiled, "Thanks, I have been practicing, though not as intensely as I should have, those finals were tough."

Peter chuckled and ushered Jaune to his seat, "Well that is all we have time for today, please remember the fight you have seen and finish the homework assigned for this class."

Jaune shrugged into his blazed but simply stuffed his tie in his bag, he wasn't dealing with it. His team 'congratulated' him as the left.

"That is so unfair, Jaune! Why were you picked?" Weiss complained

"Because I tried to duck out of being picked, Pete –I mean Professor Port hates that." Jaune corrected himself.

"Stop doing that! It's extremely annoying when you cut yourself off!" Weiss said.

"Aw… leave me alone Snow Angel…" Jaune replied wearily.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hope you guys like the chapter! Sorry I have been studying technically I actually shouldn't be typing this little message at all but hey, when was the last time i listened to authority?**

**-Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Jaune yawned before he slumped a bit more in his seat, inwardly disassembling Professor Obleck's lighting fast style of talking (which Ozpin had told him was no easy feat), making a few key notes while seeming like he was resting. Obleck zoomed over to him with his coffee cup in hand, nearly sloshing the coffee over Jaune's slumped form. Jaune winced and almost allowed his aura to flare around him and shield him.

"Are you taking notes Mr. Arc?" Obleck rushed.

Jaune immediately sat up, "Yes sir, would you like to check over them?"

Professor Obleck almost snatched the notebook and scanned the pages with Jaune's clean writing.

He nodded almost imperceptibly, "Very good, chin up, my boy."

Jaune hadn't met Obleck as he had joined the staff when Jaune had hit his training school, meaning Jaune was usually bushed by the end of the day, mentally more than physically, unable to meet new people. Jaune blinked, he kinda wished he had met Obleck. The man was moving like he was casting random glyphs at his feet like Weiss. Jaune wished he knew how Obleck moved so fast, he doubted caffeine was that much of a miracle. As Obleck continued with his lecture, Jaune felt something lightly tap against the back of his head. A rolled up paper ball rolled into his line of vision.

Jaune didn't even look and shoved the crumpled paper into his pocket he would read it later, not now. If Jaune wanted to keep his notes up to speed, he needed to focus and try to pick out what the teacher was saying. He continued to scratch more notes down on his notebook.

Professor Obleck asked the leader of Team Cardinal a question, to which Cardin responded, "I dunno, I suppose it's easier to train animals than people..."

After a small spat that Pyrrha, Velvet, and Blake had with him, he was told to see Professor Obleck after class.

"Good riddance..." Jaune muttered just loud enough for Cardin to hear.

Cardin glared at him.

Obleck glanced at the clock almost imperceptibly at the clock as he zoomed back to the podium, "That will be all for today, remember to keep up with your reading!"

Jaune put his books in his bag when Cardin shoved roughly past him, "Keep out of my way, scarface."

Jaune froze, a scowl immediately forming on his face.

Blood began to roar in his ears as his hand balled into white knuckled fists as he struggled to not burst into white flames. Before he could redefine the meaning of pain to Cardin, a hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Weiss looking at Cardin with a dark and angry expression. His other two teammates were right behind her; Ren was shaking his head, and Nora was looking at Cardin as if wondering what might come out if he was punched hard enough.

Weiss shook her head and said, "He isn't worth, it let it go, besides you'll be playing into his hands."

Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled in a rush, "He isn't, let's go."

* * *

Jaune put his head down on the lunch table after eating his lunch. He could really go for a nap right now. He began to doze off when the table shook, indicating someone had sat down. He looked up and saw his teammates staring at Team RPBY, who were staring at him.

"What?" he asked a confused frown marring his face.

"So who was the note from? What did it say?" Yang asked with absolutely no preamble whatsoever, an excited expression on her face.

"What note?" Jaune asked racking his drowsy mind for an answer.

"The one in Obleck's class, Jaune!" She said, "Come on who was it?"

"Oh, that? Haven't looked at it yet. I'll do it later..." Jaune mumbled sleepily, trying readjust his position to be comfortable.

"Oh come on! You're supposed to show these things when surrounded by your friends!" She insisted.

"It was from the back row." Blake interjected, "Perhaps it was a missed throw..."

Pyrrha gave her a 'probably not' look, "I doubt it, but why not?"

While they talked, Jaune tried to get up but Yang's hand snatched his sleeve.

Jaune sighed, "You aren't going to let this go are you?"

"No."

Everybody at the table was staring at the two expectantly.

Jaune sighed and pulled out the crumpled note out of his pocket. He began to slowly unfold it, carefully smoothing out each wrinkle.

Much to his amusement and Yang's consternation.

"Oh would you hurry it up a bit?!" She growled.

"Yang, please. One must be mentally prepared, I am simply preparing myself for what this paper could contain." He said in an 'I am a scholar and dignified gentleman' accent "Every wrinkle must be as straight as I can make it, for it is only fair that I take the proper care."

Yang flicked a pea at his head, "You're doing this on purpose aren't you."

"Glad you figured that much out." Jaune said, smirking, "Your genius intellect should be proudly boasted and lauded throughout the entire school, hallways and all."

Yang cracked her knuckles, "Watch it."

Jaune held up his hands, "Fine, sheesh, you have a quick temper don't you?"

Ruby squeaked, "Jaune you're gonna die if you don't shut up…"

Jaune turned to Ruby, "You're alive because you're her little sis, right?"

Ruby nodded frantically. Jaune laughed, this was too fun. Just then he heard an annoyed shout of 'Hey, what the hell?!' from none other than his best friend Tucker. Tucker was on his feet eyes practically snapping with fury at Cardin and his team. Velvet's drink had been knocked all over her uniform blazer and she looked miserable and resigned. Shoving the crumpled note back in his pocket, Jaune wiped his face clear of emotion and got up before he began to walk over to where the confrontation was happening. He cackled madly inwardly, this was going to be fun.

Weiss reached for his arm, "Hey don't-"

Jaune shifted out of her reach and strode over, shrugging out of his blazer. Velvet was getting up and Jaune blinked, he could let Velvet deal with them, she no doubt could. Instead Velvet simply brushed off her blazer with a napkin before shaking her head and shrugging out of it. Jaune walked up and held out his blazer, which Velvet accepted with a smile. He turned and promptly walked up to Cardin before punching him in the shoulder with so much force, a loud pop echoed in the hall.

Everyone went silent.

Cardin yelled dropping to the floor, his arm hanging and face tight with pain, "GWAH! What the hell, you freaking psychopath?! You dislocated my shoulder!"

Jaune smashed his foot into Cardin's damaged shoulder and twisted his ankle, making Cardin keen in pain as his shoulder was pulled even farther from its usual spot. Jaune kicked Cardin's face and Cardin fell back face scrunched up in an attempt not to cry out in pain. The rest of Team CRDL moved to defend their leader, Jaune warded them off with a heated glare that promised pain and torture. He looked every bit a cold murder who would slaughter hundreds and not lose a moment of sleep over it.

Jaune kneeled down next to him, "That's strike two Cardin. You see your first strike was insulting me, your second was bothering my friends. One more strike Cardin, and a dislocated shoulder will be like a warm breeze in a sunny field. I will make you beg for mercy or death, whichever may come first. Do you understand?"

When Cardin didn't respond, Jaune kicked him in the stomach, eliciting a wail of pain from the team leader, "DO? YOU? UNDERSTAND?"

Cardin nodded frantically and Jaune walked away, on hand ruffling Velvet's head and the other knuckling Tucker's. Jaune sat back down with a small sigh, and put his head back onto his arms in an attempt to sleep. Tucker and Velvet both followed him with their trays and plates.

"That was a bit excessive, don't you think?" Tucker said, not showing any discomfort.

"You guys get enough crap for being Faunus, I just lessened it by a crap ton." Jaune said, his voice slightly muffled by his arms.

"Thank you, but I could ha-" Velvet began.

"Handled it, but Cardin's not the type to quit, he would keep on going and going. You have the patience of several thousand monks, Velv, but that last thing we need is for you to snap." Jaune chuckled, lifting his face out of his arms.

Tucker shuddered, "I still have nightmares…"

They all shared a brief laugh, despite the hesitant chatter that had started up again.

Then Goodwitch walked in and said, "Mr. Arc, report to Ozpin's Office, now."

Jaune sighed, "Ten-four." He replied getting out of his seat.

* * *

Jaune scuffed his boot as he kicked lightly as the carpet in his dad's office.

"Jaune…"

"What's the punishment?"

"…"

"Well…? I know what I did was 'wrong', per se. The question is do I give a damn. I don't. If given the choice to change it, I would change nothing but be more vicious. I don't care what people think of me, you know that, so why call me up here? You gonna give me detention, suspend me from the classes for a bit? Fine. But you already know how protective I am of my friends."

Ozpin simply closed his eyes, he wanted to smile. Jaune's father had been the same way about his team and friends, and often went out of his way to knock heads with the nearest antagonist. Jaune had gained his incredible control from his mother though. The fact that he hadn't beat Cardin to an inch of his life was surprising seeing as Jaune had been ready to kill him from the utter cold and harsh despondency in his eyes. No doubt Jaune had the terror through intimidation technique down through and through.

"Jaune you will have a warning, but since you are my son, I imagine your warning will be a bit … harsher than most…I will make it a surprise, so for now go back to your classes." Ozpin said.

Jaune blinked.

Ozpin postponing a punishment.

Not to mention, Jaune was still getting C's due to attention span assessment in classes.

Ozpin was probably going to force-feed him poison.

Jaune didn't know it would be worse.

* * *

The rest of the week passed in relative ease, Jaune had been acting badly but getting top marks, so his grade was just enough to keep him in. It turned out the note had been a request to tutor someone, he didn't know who but it was said to meet the person in the library on saturday at 11:00 am (a fact he kept secret from Yang and the rest of his friends).

Then he finally was going to get some action.

It was time for the physical courses. Jaune was looking forward to these, he had been starving for some actual activity, and he knew the students were leagues above the instructors back at his school. He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he tensely waited for his name to be called while assessing his teammates' and allies' abilities. Yang and Nora were brawlers born to be on the battlefield. That much was given in their attitudes alone, not even counting their battles which also proved that fact as they almost effortlessly blew away their opponents. Ruby speed was mind-numbing, her semblance made it seem like she was teleporting and scattering rose petals with every spin and twirl of her scythe. Weiss fight was like watching a storm of the elements, a veritable honest-to-god tornado of elements attack, shooting dust spells at her opponent. Her glyphs could also be shot into four smaller glyphs trapping an opponent's limbs and suspending them, and Jaune had seen a large glyphs block a nevermore feather barrage, so he knew those smaller glyphs would take a fair amount of power to break. Blake's chain-sickle/ribbon-knifegun weapon was all that and more; the sheath when separated from the blade seemed like a large cleaver-like trench knife, while she could use that in conjunction with the black katana. After-images of her blurred around the arena as she fought, confusing the opponent as to what the hell he was supposed to aim for. Ren acrobatics and speed were more than enough to keep his distance and still get in close to deal some powerful blows, Jaune was pretty sure he didn't even need his twin stormflower weapons to win his fights most of the time. Pyrrha had magnetism to combat with and that in itself made Jaune watch her fight very carefully. When she showed her semblance, it was brief, just the barest flash of darkness would surround her hand as she would redirect an attack to a more favorable spot.

Jaune knew a few tricks with his aura that were completely and totally unheard of thanks to his bloodline. He waited as every student had begun to be called up on stage. Jaune grew wary as he saw the number of students waiting to be called up dwindle until it was just him. He looked around and saw some people muttering and staring.

'Way to go for singling a guy out.' He thought dryly.

"Jaune Arc." Glynda called.

He stepped up onto the arena and drew his sword out of his sheath. Looking around the lights in the room seemed to dim as the spotlight focused on him. He closed his eyes and called upon his aura, which began to stir within his body, sending a thrum though his very being. He scanned the crowd with concern, was this dad's way of getting back at him? He looked at his surrogate aunt who was staring right back at him impassively.

"I do have an opponent right, Ms. Goodwitch?" he asked cautiously.

Just then there was a sound of something whistling through the air and Jaune instinctively surrounded his hand in aura before slashing his hand though the air knocking what was in motion out of the air. It was a stick that went spinning in an arc towards where it was fired from.

No wait, it was a cane.

Not just any cane, Ozpin's cane.

A hand expertly raised caught the cane as it fell to the earth.

Ozpin was stepping into the spotlight.

Jaune groaned, "You have got to be kidding me. You're going to go this far?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Ozpin said calmly as he walked on to the stage his cane tapping lightly with every step, the blank shock was so large it was almost tangible, "You want to make a bet?"

Jaune sighed, "You really suck sometimes. Do you know that?"

"A lot people have told me that, Jaune, you are nowhere near the first."

"I can imagine, but let's digress and get back on the point. Why am I going to fight you, and what is the bet you are proposing? I need to know the details of this agreement."

Ozpin smiled slightly as he leaned forward on his cane, "You don't want to be a team leader, right Jaune? How about you fight me for that, if I win you have to accept the position, you can complain, but you can't change out. No arguments whatsoever, well I don't want to have to hear them."

The crowd rippled with murmurs.

"He DOESN'T want to be a leader?!"

"He did seem like a slacker…"

"If he was a slacker, why was he chosen in the first place? Ozpin know everything about the people here!"

"Oh man, that kid is gonna get his ass handed to him! This'll be awesome!"

"That kids doesn't look scared, more resigned if anything…"

"Just who is that guy? The scars make him look…different enough, but now Ozpin is about to fight him? Dust, that guy is scary."

Jaune laughed out loud, peals of a deep laugh that made every student look at the teen/young adult as if he were insane, "You're surprisingly quick this time, what hoping you can force me to pull my grades up by nipping my little rebellious attitude so early? Well, I doubt I can win this time, so I think I'll pass…"

Jaune was about to leave when Ozpin continued on, "You beat me or make me concede to defeat, I let you make your own choice when it comes to the choice of who you want to be leader, you can hand it off to anyone or hold on to it. Of course you also get to decide at what time you want to."

Jaune froze.

So that was it, Ozpin would beat him into submission? Great just like old times then. Then again, Ozpin usually was fine with Jaune choosing his own path, he was uneasy enough in trying to explain the leadership choice. Jaune could tell that much about his dad. So why was he doing this? Jaune had never won once against Ozpin, in their most recent spar. Jaune had shown Ozpin he had become a lot better, but even so, he had always ended up battling to stay conscious at the end of one of their sparring sessions.

Either way, Jaune would give anything just to shut his mind up at fight a good fight. He had been having a mildly terrible day, he really needed an outlet.

Jaune sheathed his regular sword in the oversword and pulled the attachment out onto his knight's sword. He took a deep breath as white aura glimmered along the edges of the now black and silver weapon's blade, gleaming with ethereal and pulsating white light. Jaune caught his sheath and changed it into a shield as he calmly walked back toward his side of the arena. He took his stance with his sword 45 degrees from the ground and his shield placed in front of his body. Ozpin drew his sword out of his cane sheathe and flipped his cane in his hand.  
"

Double-handed? You're going that far this early in? What exactly is going on?" Jaune said.

"Think of this as a little assessment on your abilities Jaune. I want to compare you to as you were before." Ozpin said.

Jaune took a deep breath as he centered himself and glared at Ozpin as he charged.


	7. Chapter 7

**Merry Christmas!**

**-Y.A.R.N.**

* * *

Jaune feinted around Ozpin and slashed with his blade. Sparks of white and yellow showered the stage as Jaune's strike was countered by the sheath for Ozpin's cane blade. Jaune ducked under a slash and swung upwards with his shield. Ozpin twisted and swung backward, both moving out of the shield strike and attacking. Jaune rolled with the momentum of the shield bash and twirled sideways avoiding the cane as it whipped by him. Jaune jumped forward attacking with both the sword and shield, increasing his rhythm and speed. Ozpin ramped up hisdefense in turn calmly blocking and parrying each and every strike. Ozpin shoved his cane at Jaune's chest as a counter as Jaune shifted sideways and spun around, slashing at Ozpin's back. Opzin rolled forward and spun to face Jaune.

"You've improved slightly, you've really grasped tempo and rhythm." Ozpin said conversationally.

"Yeah well I still got a lot more left to show, if you're interested." Jaune joked.

Ozpin ran forward and began to slash and bash at Jane with the cane and sword. Jaune eyes narrowed as he was pressed on the defense,he turtled and used his shield to deflect one strike and parry with his sword when the other weapon came swinging into his line of view. Sparks flew as their respective weapons crashed together with the intent to kill.

"Whoa..." One student murmured awestruck.

"Remind me not to piss that kid off." Another muttered.

Jaune caught one strike with his boot and pushed off into the air. He flipped back and landed before pointing his sword at Ozpin in a new stance.

Weiss' eyes widened, "That's a fencing stance..."

Jaune drew a few flashing lines through the air, "Alright..."

Ozpin smirked slightly and drew his weapons both forwards. They strode towards each other cautiously and immediately began to attack and swing at each other. Jaune's face immediately showed signs of strain as he could barely use his shield in the fencing stance. Jaune's sword flashed and Ozpin was bunted backwards by a small pulse of aura. Jaune slipped his shield into a sheath and separated the sword into his black oversword and knight's sword.

Ozpin smiled, "You realized it was impractical."

"Of course." Jaune replied, raising a eyebrow "I am not that stupid."

Jaune threw himself forward and began to slash at Ozpin. Ozpin began to block and slash at Jaune with same amount of ferocity. Both of their expressions, were shadowed slightly and focused as they stared at each other. Their blades flashed and sparked as they attacked each other. Jaune leapt over Ozpin and slashed at him twice from the air. Ozpin kneeled under the attacks and spun away from them, getting back into stance.

Jaune landed and slammed both of swords into the earth before drawing his guns from his sheathes, he began to fire at Ozpin with quick bursts of gunfire. Ozpin shifted and spun his weapons in circular motions sending sparks of the heated shards littering the air. Jaune clips ran out and he spun, slamming his guns back into his holsters and pre-placed cartridges, and flicked his swords into the air. He kneeled down and shot at Ozpin again who began to spin his cane and sword faster deflecting the bullets instead of dodging. Jaune sighed and ejected another empty pair of clips before both his swords fell comfortably into his grasp again as he rose up.

Silence filled the air broken only as the spent shells hit the floor and the hiss of steam rose into the air.

Jaune took a deep breath and flipped his left hand weapon –his oversword- in a reverse grip, extending his left arm out, and brought his right arm back, next to his face, pointing his knight's blade at Ozpin. Ozpin sprinted with a spurt of aura, Jaune ducked under his slash and slashed his oversword up to block a swing of his cane-sheath. Jaune spun back and slashed in tandem, retreating yet attacking at the same time.  
Ozpin pressed on, stabbing and trying to hit Jaune as he back away. Just as he moved in for a stab Jaune lashed out in an instant of pure skill. Stepping in, Jaune used his forearm and directed the stab an inch too far to the side. His blade slid past Jaune's cheek opening a small red line across the flesh. Jaune brought his hilts sideways around into Ozpin's side with a loud *CRACK*. Ozpin grimaced and whipped his cane-sheath up and bashed Jaune across the face. Ozpin spun and slammed Jaune back with the hilts of both of his weapons.

Jaune skidded down on his back and used his forearms to push his skid into a roll that left him on the edge of the ring.

Everybody stared at the aura meters at the top of the ring, a rather large chunk had been chipped off Ozpin's aura bar. His was still well within the green zone while Jaune's aura had dipped just into the yellow zone. Jaune stared at the screen with a wild smile grin across his face, blood dripped from his mouth and dribbled down his chin.

"Got…you…" Jaune panted as he grinned, his tongue ran over his bloody lip, smearing the crimson liquid across the corner of his lip.

Ozpin felt the side where he was hit and winced, it was quite sore, "So you did."

Jaune used his swords to push himself up into a standing position and cracked his neck, "Alright, let's get back to it."

Ozpin smiled and shook his head, "No need."

Jaune frowned and his eyes widened, "Hey now! Don't you even dare-"

Ozpin turned to Glynda who had been watching with thinly-veiled interest, "I concede."

Jaune yelled, "No he doesn't! NO YOU DON'T!"

Ozpin sheathed his sword into his cane and calmly walked off the stage. Jaune stood there utterly flabbergasted, as if he had forgotten this was a match. Suddenly, fury danced across his features and his aura flared along with his temper, glimmering and outlining his weapons and body. People stepped away from the edges of the ring. Jaune's muscles on his arms tense and bunch as he raises his arms almost as if he is ready to attack an invisible opponent. Jaune almost seems ready to slam his blades into the arena at his feet.

He suddenly sighed, and his arms dropped and his weapons' tips touched the floor with a slight scratching sound. Jaune suddenly looked old and exhausted, as if he had age fifty years within the space of a second without losing any of his youth-filled complexion. He blew out a large breath and sheathed both his blades into their respective sheaths. He slid his hood over his face and stalks away, frustration emanating from every line in his body. He swiped his fist across his face wiping away the trickles of crimson going down his face. Without a word he stalked to back of the room.

* * *

'Dammit…Dammit….Dammit! ...DAMMIT!' Jaune swore a storm in his head as he crossed his arms and rolled his shoulders, "Dammit Dad, what game are you playing? You know you would've of won had you wanted so why the hell did you quit after I got in one strike? You know I hate it when you quit prematurely like that…'

Waves of malice, irritation, and anger emanating from Jaune made most of the other students back away from his general vicinity. He glared at the floor from under his hood. Then he realized something.

His dad was giving him a choice.

He didn't want to be a leader, his dad didn't care whether he thought so or not.

Ozpin knew Jaune had all the qualities, even Weiss had pointed it out. Ozpin simply cast Jaune as leader because he thought it would be best. Being a leader didn't mean you were the best of your team. You simply knew how to lead them, although Jaune had no idea how to lead at all, Ozpin believed he would learn. Jaune sighed and rubbed a hand over his face while he inhaled, when he exhaled he blew out a thin stream of air through his hands.

Jaune waited for the class to finish and walked over to Goodwitch to get his evaluation papers. He simply folded them and stuffed them in his pocket before going to the locker and picking up his school bag. As he walked out the room he noticed Ozpin leaning against the wall, his trademark cup of coffee in his hand.

Jaune walked next to him and said in a low tone, "I don't really care about how you think I will do, but you're wrong. I should be allowed to pick my place, forcing me into another place I don't want to be in won't work."

With that, Jaune turned on his heel, swung his bag onto his shoulder, and walked away emotionlessly.

Ozpin took a sip of his steaming coffee, "You really can't let it go can you…?"

Ren, Weiss, and Nora all saw the exchange and glanced among each other.

What was with Jaune?

* * *

Jaune flipped his pen in between his fingers as he looked over his note sheets and essay he was working on. He bit his lip ignoring the slight throb of pain it gave in response. He scribbled a few more notes onto his diagram and closed his notebook. He picked it up and shifted open his bag. He had just placed his notebook back in, when a brunette girl with glasses stumbled into the seat next to him and placed her sheaf if paper on the desk. Jaune blinked as a few of them fluttered to the floor and the girl groaned.

"Stupid binder breaking…" she muttered.

"Um…you want some help?" Jaune asked holding out a few of the fallen papers.

She snatched them and grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, I am a total klutz when it comes to organization, not to say I can't find the papers I need, but everything is just a giant bundle whenever my binder breaks…"

Jaune chuckled, "I had that problem too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I fixed it by making sure my binder was in working condition before I started the year. Well that and a whole cartload of duct tape." Jaune said casually.

The girl giggled timidly as she placed a binder with one part completely torn off, "That sounds like a good idea…I wish I had some…"

Jaune rummaged through his bag and pulled out a roll of the grey goddess-made glue, "I happen to have some if you want me to do a quick patch up."

She pushed her glasses up her nose and nodded.

Jaune picked up her damaged binder and raised an eyebrow, "Did you run it through a wood chipper?"

She flushed as he began to fix it.

A few minutes and multiple sound of ripping and placing tape later, Jaune held up the now functioning binder, "Haha! That should do it! That thing should now be able to stand Armageddon, but let's not be too literal about it."

She smiled as she began to place her papers back in, "Thanks. Oh by the way did you get my note?"

"Huh?" Jaune tilted his head like a confused puppy, "Your note…?"

"Yeah from Obleck's class!"

"Wait, you mean the tutoring note?"

"Mm-hmm!" she nodded.

"Oh well, I guess I usually only train on the weekends so I really don't have anything better to do…" Jaune thought about it for a minute, "Ah hell, why not?"

"Oh great!" she cheered.

Jaune laughed, "You're like a mix of my teammate Nora and a Velv…"

"Who?"

Jaune shook his head smiling, "Nothing, it's an inside joke. Oh, by the way, didn't catch your name."

She slapped her forehead, "Right! I am Izzy or Isabella, I prefer Izzy or Iz though."

"Jaune Arc." Jaune said holding his hand.

Instead of shaking his hand, Izzy held out her fist, Jaune laughed and bumped her fist. He put the last few of his stuff away and got up.

"I got to head back, I wanted to sleep in early anyway. Nice talking to you." He said as he waved.

"Likewise!" she called back.

* * *

Jaune had another reason for sleeping in early, Jaune hadn't shown anyone how the scars on his face didn't only go to cover his face. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. When he was don with that, he quickly slipped off his shirt and threw on his blue drawstring sleeping pants. He draped a light sleeved white shirt on his head boards and slipped under the covers of his bed. He sighed as he put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes.

Darkness crept along the inside of his mind as he relaxed more and more. Soon he was asleep and dreaming.

* * *

He slashed another dark shape in two as they closed on him from all sides, he dropped back and kicked up his foot planting firmly in what he assumed was a creature's stomach. He rotated his waist and slammed his other foot's heel into its skull with a loud crack. Jaune dropped down and rolled back ready to charge when suddenly a wave of heat slapped his face and he looked up. Fires burned around him as the same sinister shaped danced behind a ring of fire that slowly dwindled down. Everything was washed with a burning tone of orange. Jaune glanced at his ground to make sure it was steady and his heart shot into his throat. He was standing on top of a cage. Underneath him, hundreds –maybe even thousands- of hands reached for the top as their owners screamed and wailed. Jaune bit back the bile rising in his throat and suddenly the metal beneath his feet broke and he was falling. The hands began to grab him and tear him, he tried to scream but one of the things slapped a hand over his mouth. He was choking and drowning and-

* * *

Jaune sat up with a loud gasp. Sweat beaded along his forehead and his sheets were wrapped around him as he had twisted and turned in his bed. He glanced at his clock only to see it was 3:13 in the morning. Jaune let out a groan, he usually woke up at 5:00. A quick glance had confirmed that everyone else was sleeping and he was the only one who was awake at the moment. He rubbed a hand along his forehead and got up. Jaune shrugged on his sleeved shirt and closed the buttons. He clipped his Crocea Mors and guns onto his pants, and head out for a light snack. The quiet shuffling sounds of his feet were the only sounds that accompanied him as he walked across the floor. Jaune's eyes flicked in every direction due to force of habit. It had been instilled into him to make sure he could see as much as he could so that he would be aware of anyone creeping up on him.

He arrived at the kitchen and fixed himself a bowl of cereal and began to eat the food. Jaune absentmindedly twirled the spoon in his hand as he chewed on the food in his mouth. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. It was so, so maddening at times, to be forced to be a prisoner in his own mind. He quickly wolfed down the rest of his food and sighed swallowed his last bite with a sigh.

He stretched, "AHHHHHHHH…humnah." He jabbered, "Dreams suck so hard sometimes."

He got up and grabbed the bowl and spoon he was using and put them in the sink and ran the tap over them. He didn't feel like training and reading his textbooks would bore him back to sleep. He shuffled back to his room and opened the door only to see Weiss half out of her bed shivering. She looked at him wide-eyed, he could see the fear, then shock, and embarrassment. She looked away and he calmly closed the door and sat next to her on the bed.

"Nightmare?"

She shook her head so hard it was a wonder she didn't suffer from whiplash.

"Oh, me too, mine was just earlier."

She glared at him, but Jaune just gave her a tired smirk.

"I am guessing that if you were in the mood to talk about it, you would be yelling something how I was wrong and what does it matter? Right?"

Weiss made an indignant noise in the back of her throat, and looked away in, blush present even in the darkness.

Jaune chuckled softly, "I bet mine are worse than yours."

She snorted in a very unladylike fashion.

"Cute." Jaune commented with a wry smile.

Weiss flushed and punched him in the arm, and then shook her arm out in pain. Jaune grinned and flexed his arm was covered with glowing white aura.

"Whoops, it was instinctive." Jaune said shrugging.

Weiss grumbled in an annoyed manner.

"Are all you rich and high-class people like this? Cause I swear you are fulfilling the poster child look for trying to sound okay and being prideful about not needing any help at all whatsoever. Which in my opinion is annoying." Jaune said.

Weiss blinked and he got up and jogged to the door, "Well I am going to leave before you figure out I just insulted you."

He ran out the door and sprinted down the hallway; a second later Weiss ran out after him red-faced, barefoot, shrugging into a jacket, and holding a gleaming Myrtenaster. Jaune laughed and picked up the pace, goading Weiss by jogging backwards every now and then and giving her a friendly little wave. She had just about caught up to him when he ducked under her outstretched hand and lightly slapped the back of her head. He would grin like a fool and laugh loudly as he ran in the opposite direction.

Weiss swore when she caught him, he would regret every mocking her.

She didn't even notice she was smiling brightly as she chased him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Special thanks to Nokanomi for the antagonist!**

* * *

Jaune appeared at the breakfast meal that morning, color high and laughing like he had heard the funniest joke. Weiss stumbled in after him, panting and glaring at to which he responded with a cocky smirk. The other members of their team stared at them as they made their way to the lunch table after loading up on food. Jaune began wolfing down his food with surprising gusto. Weiss rolled her eyes and began on her own breakfast.

"Wow, Jaune you must be starving." Tucker commented as he watched.

"Mrgrpmh!" Jaune got out as ate.

"Swallow before you answer, Jaune!" Weiss chastised as she smacked him lightly upside the head.

Jaune swallowed reflexively and put his hands to his throat, choking and gagging on some food he hadn't finished chewing. Everyone began to panic, Ren tried to catch Jaune as he tumbled out of his seat and Nora pleaded with Ren to do something. Pyrrha panicked and scooted away slightly and Ruby gasped in shock. Yang and Blake both stared on in pure worry and shock.

"OH GOD!" Velvet cried.

"JAUNE, HOLD ON BUDDY!" Tucker yelled as he grabbed Jaune and began to do the Heimlich Manuver.

After two or three thrusts on Jaune's abdomen, Jaune coughed out a half chewed bit of bread, "Weiss, the hell?"

"I didn't expect you to begin choking!" She defended.

"You two are a comedy act all your own aren't you?" Yang commented as she glanced at Jaune and Weiss and smiled.

"Shut up!" They both yelled.

Some people began laughing and Jaune slammed his face onto the desk with a muttered, "This is your fault."

Unbeknownst to both teams, one young dark-haired Spanish hunter watched admiring the number of women at the table. His blue eyes scanned over them before a small smile graced his features. Then he glanced at the two boys at the table and he frowned. He wasn't overly worried about the black-haired one, but he didn't like the blonde at all. He was too friendly, and his scars didn't really detract from his looks.

Alvaro Villanueva sipped his coffee and glanced over the rim of the cup, then again he hasn't missed a conquest yet, he doubted he would lose one now.

* * *

Jaune put his head on his arms and let loose a huge yawn. Professor Obleck dashed around the classroom speaking at his usual mile-per-minute style. Jaune tapped his pencil idly on the paper, he wanted to go outside. The birds were singing and the sky was a hue of forget-me-not blue. Clouds made their slow tracks across the sky and the wind whistled through the branches of the gently swaying trees. Though there was a few storm clouds on the horizon, he didn't expect a storm to come too early. Obleck discussed more about the Faunus wars and Jaune twirled the pen in between his fingers as he listened absentmindedly. Soon, the class was called out and he began to pack up and made his way to the exit when a person bumped into him.

"Whoa!" Jaune yelped.

"Agh!" The other said.

Jaune straightened and saw a boy with black hair and tan skin on the floor muttering and getting up.

"Sorry 'bout that." The boy said.

"No it's okay. I probably should've noticed you." Jaune said.

Then their eyes met.

Jaune's eye widened as under those blue eyes he saw hundreds of malevolent emotions swirling and shifting. Jaune knew them so well, because his childhood was full of them. The main emotion in his childhood was grief, but there was rage, horror, sadism on occasion, misery, pain, hate, as well as anger. This person's eye had and undertone of anger and malevolence and anger. Jaune almost froze.

"My name is Alvaro Villanueva." The boy said.

"Jaune…Jaune Arc." Jaune said as he quietly shook his hand once.

Jaune walked away and quietly looked at the floor thinking. That was not normal. Jaune glanced at the boy and walked faster down the hall. He would talk to the kid later, he need to go to his next class.

* * *

Jaune flopped in his bed without changing on caring to kick his shoes off onto the floor next to his bed. He sighed and put an arm over his eyes even though he stared at the darkness that was the sleeve of his jacket blocking out all light. He was like that for minutes thinking about Alvaro. What was his story?

"…Jaune?!" a voice broke through his thoughts.

"What?" Jaune replied.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked.

Jaune notice Nora and Weiss weren't there, "Where are the girls?"

"I told them you need some time, and I needed to talk."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You could tell?"

Ren nodded.

Jaune sighed, "There was this kid, and he reminds me of myself, before and little bit after I was... adopted. Let me tell you, Ren. It's not good, I don't know what I might have done if I had continued down that path..."

Ren frowned, "What do you mean? What were you like?"

"I've only known you for a while Ren…I can't talk about it with you yet…" Jaune murmured, "I'm sorry."

Ren smiled, "It's okay, and everyone has their skeletons. I don't expect you to trust me just like that either. Everyone has some bad secrets."

Jaune smiled weakly, "Not as big or as many as mine…"

Ren nodded and Jaune got out of his bed and went to the restroom. When he got to rest that night, sleep evaded him. Just then there was a light tapping on the window. Jaune looked out to see a light bit of rain pattering out against the window. He blinked and got up. He glanced at his teammates and made sure they were asleep. He slipped out of his sleeping clothes and got into his jeans and a t-shirt. He slung his hoodie on his arm, clipped on his armor and sword, and walked out the door; making his way to the top of Beacon.

* * *

Weiss woke up to hear Nora and Ren talking, Nora probably woke her up with her constant chattering about something or other. She yawned and sat up to see Ren was sitting on his bed and glancing at the clock and at the door nervously. Nora was half skipping and half pacing although thinking on it, it was probably normal. Weiss got up and stretched a bit. She looked outside and saw it was raining heavily.

"What's up?"

"Well, it's been-"

"Jaune is missing!" Nora chirped.

"What?" Weiss gasped.

Ren sighed, "Yeah, Jaune isn't here we've been waiting for a while, he might have gone down to the cafeteria, though it might have been a bit early."

Weiss exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding, "Then he is probably getting some food, he eats like a starving man every time he goes there."

Ren shrugged and the three walked to the cafeteria, but Jaune was nowhere to be seen, everyone else was already at their table. Ren grew a bit more nervous and Nora was the first one to ask if anyone knew where Jaune was. Weiss scanned the other tables and the lunch line looking for him. Team RPBY asked why he wasn't there but they had no clue where Jaune could be either.

When the classes started, the rain was still pouring just as heavily as when Weiss had woken up. The class seemed to slow down and even after an hour Jaune had still not returned. Combat classes were about to start and Ren was beginning to get more and more nervous. Nora was beginning to dash ahead at every turn and peer down it as if Jaune were walking up. They may have not been close friends but it wasn't like Jaune to miss out on classes. They walked to the arena hoping he would show up.

Halfway throughout the classes Weiss was biting her lip.

"Is my match about to begin?" a quiet voice said in her ear.

She nearly jumped away and unsheathed Myrtenaster, she looked behind her and saw Jaune, sopping wet and his blond hair plastered to his forehead. She blinked.

"What is wrong with you?! Do you want to get sick? You need to dry off!" She hissed.

"It doesn't matter, I'll be slipping out after my match as it is." He said gently pushing his hair off his forehead.

"Next up, Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna."

Jaune pulled out both of his blades and walked up on stage. His face gave away no emotion and rolled his shoulders and other muscles, small pops and cracks were heard as he loosened up. Some kids snickered as them saw him drenched, others saw how his wet clothes clung to his figure and gawked and ogled. If Jaune was affected, he didn't react. He took his stance and waited for Blake. Blake walked up and held Gambol Shroud at the ready.

When the buzzer sounded, Blake shot Gambol Shroud towards Jaune with all the speed of an arrow out of a bow. Jaune ducked and rolled sideways whipping his knight's sword through the air and blocking the wide swing of Blake's weapon. Jaune ran forward with both of his weapons scraping the floor next to him. Blake tugged her weapon back and Jaune dropped like a puppet with its strings cut as the weapon passed harmlessly overhead. He slid as the water acted as a slight lubricant for him. He leapt to his feet and slashed at Blake with his sword. Blake quickly separated her weapons into her dual blades and began to counter and parry. Jaune aimed a stab at her ribs and she used her semblance, slipping out of range while the afterimage was sliced in half.

Jaune looked surprised and impressed, "Wow, nice switch, that's a useful semblance you've got."

Blake fought a grin, "Is that how you talk to all your opponents?"

Jaune shrugged, "More or less, does it matter?"

Blake herself shrugged and focused her yellow eyes on Jaune. He dropped into his stance as Blake blurred forward and he quickly raised his right arm, blocking a slash that would made a gash in his side. They dueled across the arena. When Blake's strikes were getting too close, Jaune would let out a pulse of aura, throwing her weapons off their intended path. Jaune threw himself into the air over a forwards stab, and Blake threw a high kick that Jaune blocked with his forearm from midair. Every single one of their strikes were chipping bits out of their aura as the match progressed.

Jaune spun sideways the moment he hit the floor dodging a strike from Bake that would have shot through his shoulder. Jaune eyes flashed as he analyzed Blake's style, he made small mental notes about anytime she seemed to overreach for a strike, or a slight pause after using her semblance. After a cross slash, Jaune retaliated with a kick that Blake blocked with the flat side of her sheath-blade. Jaune pushed off the kick and reset his stance. Jaune drew a sigh and began to glow, his body shooting out wisps of aura. Droplets of water made the air shimmer around them almost they were fighting among stars. Jaune slashed at Blake and rolled back as Blake fired at where he had just been standing. Jaune began to long for the cooling sensation of the rain on his face.

"Usually I don't mind drawing fights out a bit, but I have stuff to do so I am going to end this." He said softly, "So I am sorry…In advance."

Jaune sprang forth in a flash, almost on top of Blake as he mounted a furious attack. She blurred out of his reach only to find him inches in front of her as his aura began to bleed with a dark blue color streaking across the pure white that enveloped him. He ducked under a slice and slashed upwards ripping a chunk out of Blake's aura. Jaune felt her blade whip across his face and scrape across his aura. Jaune took the blow and spun bashing his hilt into her side as she moved past, following through into the strike.

She hissed and jumped back only to find Jaune tackle her and grip her arms. He growled and lifted her into the air, eyed the aura meter and slammed her into the ground.

Hard.

Blake groaned and her aura barely dipped into the red.

"Enough! Mr. Arc wins the match." Glynda said loudly.

Jaune offered his hand, "Sorry."

Blake gripped his hand and was hauled to her feet, "Ow, that was a good match."

"It was you almost had me a few times." He said as they both walked off the stage, "I had to step up my game a notch to even be able to match your abilities."

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Really you seemed to be holding your own against Ozpin."

Jaune began to laugh, "What? You thought D-er…Ozpin was serious? That was nothing he can wipe the floor with me several times over and not even break a sweat!"

Blake blinked as Jaune wiped a tear from sheer mirth, "Really?"

Jaune chuckled, "Scout's honor."

Blake rolled her eyes, but a small grin appeared on her face.

* * *

Jaune left the class almost as quickly as he came, with a quick request for Ren to pick up his evaluation he began to slip out of the class.

Weiss caught his shoulder, feeling the hard muscle under the damp clothing, "Where are you headed?"

"Out." He replied.

With that Jaune pulled away and walked away. Weiss was tempted to run after him, but right then her match was called up and she hesitated before walking towards the stage.

"Cardin Winchester vs Weiss Schnee!"

Cardin sauntered up, his Mace resting on his shoulder. He eyed Weiss' profile, and liked what he saw, though personally he preferred a little larger assets, he thought her trimmed and lean profile was sexy too.

"Hey babe, how about we have a bet?" He said as they walked up.

Weiss rolled her eyes, unfortunately for her, Cardin thought he was making progress, "If I win we go on a hot date, sound reasonable?"

Weiss turned to him eyes absolutely snapping, "I have one word for you: NO."

"I like them feisty…" he chuckled, "Come on babe, you definitely will enjoy some time with yours truly."

"Jaune Arc kicked your ass and he wasn't even trying. I can make him try and inform you and give you your third strike. Or better yet, I kick your ass now and save him the trouble." Weiss said primly.

"He just caught me off guard, I would have beaten him otherwise." Cardin growled, "And I bet that you co-

"Enough chatter." Glynda said sternly, "BEGIN."

Cardin roared forward swinging his mace in a wide arc in front of him. Weiss gracefully dropped back and activated a fire dust spell. Cardin was blasted back as heat scorched the front of his armor and he tumbled back. He slammed his mace into the ground as he shot to his feet and ran at Weiss. Weiss immediately darted sideways, realizing he had no long-ranged attacks. She blasted him with dust spells, hitting him on all sides with ice, fire, and lightning. Cardin snarled and held his mace closer to his torso as he tried to block the various spells hammering at his aura.

He managed to glance at the nearby aura meter and his rage spiked as he hadn't even done any damage to Weiss and he was almost in the red zone.

"Stop casting those damn spells!" he roared.

He whipped his mace around with surprising speed, blocking a few spells, and threw himself at Weiss, pouring every drop of his aura into his strike. Weiss glared and flicked her blade at the oncoming attack. A shining glyph intercepted the heavy downward strike heading her way as he brought down his mace. The glyphs wavered for a second and shimmered as his weapon seemed to press against it for a second before bouncing off. The instant her glyph faded, Weiss shot forward and with a flourish, jabbed forwards. The blade sparked against Cardin's aura and carved out a divot in his actual armor as well. His aura dropped into the red, and Cardin stumbled back onto his back.

"Enough! Weiss Schnee wins the fight." Glynda called out.

Weiss walked back and Ren sidled up, "Jaune says: Good Job."

She gave him a surprised look, "He watched?"

"Said he couldn't miss it, he especially like how you handled Cardin."

Weiss couldn't hold back the grin, but immediately it smoothed over into a scoffing expression, "He need to be kicked off his high horse, I simply did that."

* * *

Weiss and the rest of Team JWNR (sans Jaune) made their way to the cafeteria it was almost dinner. Rain still pounded heavily against the glass and lighting flashed furiously through the sky. Weiss didn't feel like swallowing, her throat felt like it was swelling in anxiety. Why the hell had Jaune not come inside? What if he was hurt and unable to reach them? Weiss stirred her food uneasily, forcing a few mouthfuls down for the sake of nutrition. Ren was in a similar state glancing at the door and cafeteria as if he could find Jaune there. Nora drummed her fingers on the table and was somewhat quiet. Yang was trying to break the tension with Ruby giving what little aid they could. Blake and Pyrrha was occasionally glancing around.

Tucker and Velvet were the only ones who looked unworried at their table, although they would glance out the windows as if searching for something.

Weiss couldn't take it, "Why aren't you two worried about him?"

Velvet and Tucker glanced at each other and shrugged, "He always when it rains, he goes and unless you know where to look you won't find him. He has a reason to do what he does, and Weiss I suggest you think about who you are talking to before saying anything. We have been friends since childhood, we know him well enough to know he will be safe."

"Do you know where he is?" Ren asked trying to divert the attention from a suddenly embarrassed Weiss, "We are all just a bit worried."

"We have a good idea." Velvet said quietly.

"Jaune doesn't like being disturbed though, so don't bother looking, we won't spill." Tucker said with an air of finality.

The intercom buzzed at that time, "All students are advised to head indoors as the lighting is flashing dangerously close to Beacon's high towers, please avoid them."

Velvet began to giggle, and Tucker outright began to laugh, "Oh yeah of course, it was only a matter of time."

"What?" Weiss asked.

Everybody were staring at the two Faunus, "Nothing. Jaune won't come back until he feels like it."

The two Faunus scraped the last bits of food off their plates and got up, leaving. The teams finished their meals and despite their worry went to turn into their rooms.


End file.
